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Q hooked up with Simon Neil, Ben Johnston and James Johnston for an energized chat ahead of their performance as part of the Q Awards with Russian Standard Vodka - The Gigs.


The last time I saw you live was when you were supporting Queens Of The Stone Age in 2008, what has changed since then?
Ben: Well, we've made a new record. (laughs). No, we've just been working on new songs, worked really hard for a few months to get everything right, so that we're now ready to unleash it on the world I guess.

Ben: I don't think much has changed with us as people or the way we operate..
Simon: The way we work on a record has always been the same, which is great. And we don't feel like it's broken yet, so we certainly don't need to fix it.

Only Revolutions was recorded in L.A, and you've pretty much recorded all of your albums in different countries. Does the change of location affect the albums?
Simon: It doesn't affect the music as such.. but like in Vancouver (recording Puzzle), it was raining the whole time, and we didn't see any other soul that was working on the record. Which worked well for the record, but I think we were mentally exhausted after that. So this time around in sunny L.A, it was a lot easier to get up and get motivated.

The new album is certainly a lot more upbeat and chirpier than your previous records. Is it your celebratory album?
Simon: It might be a celebration of survival I think (laughs). Puzzle was such an intense record with a heavy subject. We've grown up a lot in the last three years, and we very much know we're doing this band for the rest of our lives, so there's definitely more hope to it.

It just seems like there's more to be happy about now, certainly than it was before when it didn't seem like it get any darker.

Fan question: You recently did Later...with Jools Holland. Does he have bad breath?
Simon: (laughs) He does look like he's got bad breath but he actually smells spectacular.
Ben: No, he's actually really nice...and we've never done anything like that before, so it was great.

It seems to be a lot of waiting around on that show...how did you pass the time?
Ben: It was great to see how other people there react, because you're in your comfort zone I guess, but we just went outside and smoked a lot.
James: And drank loads of wine.
Simon: Yeah, too much wine unfortunately (laughs). But it wasn't like when you're on tour and you're sat with your head in your hands three hours before you go onstage going 'please lets just do the show'.

Josh Homme is contributing on one of your new songs. How intimidating is he?
Ben: He's got hands like a shovel. And is so tall. Very intimidating.
Simon: It's still kinda weird that it's him even though we've been on tour together and stuff, he's such a legend. But he's a really nice guy, he just came in for an hour and twiddled about with his guitar.
Ben: He's really a lovely guy, and just tries to make everyone laugh, but his sheer size is intimidating.
James: He's just a big Viking.

Do you have any pre-gig rituals?
Ben: We have a wee huddle, not in a Celtic way or anything...
Simon: If we didn't do the hug, we'd feel strange, that's the one thing right before we go on that's important to us. It makes it seem like it's us against the world. It's just a hug though, no mantra like "Dear God, please give us the strength.."..
Ben: No, it's more like "let's fucking...fucking let's get them! "Let's make somebody cry!" (laughs)

Do you ever worry that you'll get too agitated on-stage and smack someone with a guitar?
Simon: The couple of times someone throws something at us, then were definitely not afraid to call them out, like any other band would. Josh (Homme) did that too... was it a Norwegian festival when someone threw a shoe or something at him? And he properly was like...well you wouldn't do that if you were sitting in a room with someone, so don't do it when someone's on stage.

Throwing things on stage seems like a thing in Norway though. David Bowie got that lollipop-stick in his eye a few years ago...
All: Ahh! That looked agony that..(cringes), good aiming though, even though the person didn't mean to. I guess Bowie's never forgiven Norway for that one.

....and Morrissey was hit by a beer a couple of months ago..
All: Well, I mean,.,...you win some you lose some...(laughs)

Is he your bottling subject of choice then?
Ben: Well, you have to respect Morrissey I guess, but he's not on our list of idols. But we definitely put The Smiths in higher regards than Morrissey alone.

What has Q meant to you over the years?
James: Yeah we read it... once a month..(laughs)..No, We hold it in the highest regard of all the music magazi..
Simon: Let's not get overly... (laughs)
Ben: As we get older we definitely appreciate it more and more.
Simon: Q's great because you just get a real insight into the real big stars, see what it's like on the inside. Q for quality.

Words: Brand Barstein

Related:
The Awards - The Gigs: Biffy Clyro review and photos

6:30 PM | 21/10/2009