Ellie caught up with Hunter and Jade from AFI before their headline show at the Academy in Manchester to talk about the current tour, being vegan, touring the UK and much more.

First off could you give us a brief history of the band?
(Hunter) The band was formed in high school in the early nineties, that was before either of us were in the band. We joined the band in the late nineties, we toured a lot the band was even still in High School at the time which held us back a lot. Since then we have been on a million tours, made eight albums and been to New Zealand once.

You have been together since 1991 how would you describe your journey and achievements so far?
(Hunter) Long! Its not the size that really matters, I think the greatest thing that we have achieved is that we have been able to do what we love for so long.

In September you released your eighth studio album, how was the recording process and how well do you think has been received?
(Jade) The recording process was actually relatively pleasant compared to our last record which was a little bit more hallowing, so that was nice. I think personally that it has been received well, but we can never be sure as we live in our own little tour bubble and get feedback from fans.

What are the main concepts would you say this album takes on board and why choose the tile Crash Love for the album?
(Jade) The lyrical concepts are about the crash of art culture and the co-modification of art and music culture in the modern society. Crash Love talks about the culture of clash and refers to that with a common theory going on throughout the lyrics of some of the songs.

You have recently released Beautiful Thieves along with a video, what is the story behind this seemingly glamours video?
(Hunter) Well its essentially that we have been hired to play this party but we end up poisoning all the guests at the party, in a glamorous way of course.

You must have played thousands of gigs, but which gig would you say was unforgettable?
(Jade) Last night but that's probably because it just happened, I will probably forget about it in a couple of days though, it was pretty unforgettable. We played a giant stadium in New York, there were about eighty thousand people there and it was broadcast worldwide. That was pretty amazing, its one of the biggest shows we have played.

Do you have any funny tour stories from your time on the road?
(Jade) Various injuries, I hit myself in the head with my guitar once and had to get stitches. Hunter has had plenty of injuries too.

When did you start playing music and what made you pick up your first instrument?
(Hunter) I started playing when I was a little kid, my dad is a musician too so I think that inspired me, I have never considered that you can not be a musician if that makes sense.
(Jade) I decided to start playing the guitar as I got bored when I was in High School.

How have the shows on this tour been going so far and what can Manchester expect from your set tonight?
(Jade) Tonight we are just going to go out there and do what we usually do and play and energetic set, give it our all one hundred percent.

How would you say your relationship with the other bands on this tour are?
(Jade) We have played with Sick of It All for many years now, they are a big influence on us and they are also really good friends of ours, the first time I ever came to Europe I think was with Sick of It All. The Dear and Departed are friends of ours from LA.

Over the years you have toured the UK quite a bit, what are your favourite things about the UK?
(Jade) I like Hobnobs I saw some of those today and they are great. They have these paninis in Starbucks that they don't really have in the States, those are really good. I like the British Museum and I like to eat baked beans for breakfast.
(Hunter) I love the history and finding out about new television shows over here.
(Jade) Yeah you guys have some great shows over here, I watch Peep Show, Inbetweeners the comedy's are really good.

In 2006 you released your first live DVD, are you thinking of making anymore live DVDS or CDs any time soon?
(Jade) I hope not! I'm personally not interested in live CDs, I don't care about any bands live CDs.

What do you think about the current state of the music scene?
(Jade) Its got its good and bad points, one of the bad points is that there are like a thousand bands that I have never heard of and if I took the time to memorise their names, they would be out of fashion by the time I'd finished.

If AFI were not a band what would you guys be doing now?
(Jade) We would be a construction team, AFI construction.

I hear that you are all vegan and vegetarian, what are your reasons for this choice and is it harder to deal with in the UK?
(Jade) I just hate plants! So I became vegetarian to eat more plants to punish them, I don't really care about animals so much.
(Hunter) It has actually become a lot easier to eat over here, the first time I came here like twelve years ago I dont think I ate anything.

One random question that we ask every band, if you could be an animal out of a Zebra and a Giraffe which one would you be and why?
(Hunter) I would be a zebra because I like how you pronounce that.
(Jade) Really that is all you can choose between, I guess a zebra is less freaky looking than a giraffe they are kind of silly so I would be a zebra too.

Thanks for your time do you have a message for your fans reading this?
(Jade) Hey fans, I'm glad that you can read and your not illiterate that's positive and thank you for hopefully coming to our show in Manchester. We will be back soon as possible.

Interview By Ellie Pockley