Craig caught up with Adam, Jason and Dan in their bus just before their sell out gig in Belfast supporting Bowling For Soup

Last night of the tour now. How has it been?
Adam: It’s been brilliant. We’ve really enjoyed it. We’ve sorta come out of retirement to do it.

It must have been tough going straight into a tour when you’re playing night after night. How long has it been? Two and a half weeks?
Adam: It’s been 17 shows in 17 days

Jason: 18, it’s been 18

Adam: 18 then. Dan and I have done 12 in a row with the Bloodhound Gang. That’s the most we’ve ever done before. We’ve never done 18 in a row. To be honest, it hasn’t felt that strenuous. Everyone’s just so casual because we’re older now. They’ve been doing it for years (Bowling For Soup), we’ve been doing it for years. There’s no egos. People do care, but in a slower, more laid back way. It doesn’t feel as exhausting as it should do. Everyone’s helping each other out.

Dan: I’d guess you’d say that everyone’s at a level now . . . you could call it a professionalism. Everyone’s just relaxed and calm about it. No one worries about all the small pointless shit.

You’re touring again, are you writing too?
Adam: In the process of. We were meant to have some stuff for this tour but we didn’t get ready in time.

Dan: It’s been such a long time that we’re looking at the fact that at least half the crowd won’t have heard a lot of our stuff and it will be new to them anyway.

Dan, you just returned to the band at the start of this tour?

Dan: Yeah

Adam; Yeah he hasn’t played in the band since 2005 so it’s been 5 years.

2005 was a tough year for you guys.
Adam: Yeah, it was the last year of our band really. A five year break.

It started going wrong when your label was taken over?
Adam: Well, 2002 – 2005 were the lean years at our record label. They didn’t release anything really. 2003 Hi Fi Serious had ended and we went and did some writing for half a year. Then we did the album. In 2004 they just sat there for a year.

So it was starting to get like out of sight, out of mind?
Adam: Yeah, it was. By the time the next album came out, you know how it is in the UK. Everything’s just so cyclic and fast.

Dan: It just got to the point where we’d lost the point of why we were in the band to be honest. Essentially, it’s just playing music with your mates and having a laugh. That is it, it’s that simple. It got to the point that, by the end of that year, we were all worrying and fretting. We had a bunch of people around us saying “you should do this” and “you should do that”. It just stopped being fun and just got to the point where, when the record got shelved for ages and the label got taken over, it was just like “You know what, let’s just knock in on the head”.

Adam: We were always like a square peg in a round hole in the English rock scene. When we did Monkey Kong, without sounding too punk about it, we really didn’t care. We weren’t part of any scene. We were just true to ourselves. It was the same with Hi Fi Serious. Sitting listening to management, record labels and the press wasn’t really what we wanted to do. Worrying if you’d be on the front of Kerrang and stuff like that was never the point in this band. All bands go through that but the key is to go carry on and come out of it. We probably should have carried on really but the break has done us good.

Dan: Yeah, we’re glad we didn’t carry on.

Adam: We’re back to how we were but we’re fresh. We’ll make an album and “A” will be whatever it is at that time, just us being us. Maybe we’ll release a Christian metal album <laughs>

That would be interesting <laughs> but you just plan to do what you want to do, release what you want to release?
Adam: Yeah, that’s how we were. When I think back to our heydays, it was just us sitting in our little office doing whatever we wanted to do. We’d phone up the record label and say we’re doing it this way or that way. Towards the end it turned on it’s head and they were telling us what to do.

Dan: Yeah, they said they were paying so we had to do it their way. We just decided to end it rather than have to deal with that.

Jason: Even the stupidity that the five of us had was being lost. We used to have meetings where we’d sit for 3 hours being stupid and nothing would get done. That’s important. When you don’t have that, something is lost.

Adam: I once went into a costume shop to rent a rabbit costume without the head so I could check in for a flight dressed as a rabbit. I genuinely thought that was a good thing to do just to make people laugh. Just turn up at Heathrow, wait in the queue and check in as a rabbit. During the last album, I didn’t have the passion to do that <everyone laughs>. I didn’t care what I checked in as.

So you need to have fun and be passionate about what you’re doing?
Adam: Yeah, passion for dressing as woodland creatures.
Jason: We’re older now with jobs and kids so music isn’t the most important thing. By the end of the band before, the music was paying the bills. It was a job. You can’t treat it like that.

Dan: That’s when you start to listen to everyone else around you. They’d talk crap and we’d say that doesn’t make any sense. They’d say it does. You do start to take opinions seriously. Previously we’d have been like “Really?? Get fucked!”. This whole tour has been really liberating in that sense. Just having a laugh. It’s funny as well, Bowling For Soup have the same mindset as us. We just clicked straight away. The Dollyrots is the same kind of deal. Forever The Sickest Kids is a bit different. They’re definitely on the way up I think.

They’re a more scene orientated band.
Dan: Yeah, they’re a very scene driven band. It’s kinda funny because you can see when they play, the younger contingent get to the front.

Adam: Like a McFly gig.

Dan: Yeah. We just haven’t hung out with them as much. They keep themselves to themselves. They’re not as jaded as we are yet.

Adam, you mentioned McFly. You have a connection with those guys.

Adam: Yeah, Dan and Jason co-wrote some McFly stuff and Jason produced the last three records, and the new one. Three songs for the new one. When the band ended, that’s what we did. We set up a business called The Collective. We had six number ones.

Jason: Five. Listen to whatever he says and knock one off. If he got hit on the head with a brick it would turn out to be a pebble.

Adam: I don’t know! I don’t follow your career <laughs>. We’ve very good friends with McFly. We’ve been there with them during their last three or four albums.
Matt Willis also?
Adam: Yeah, we did both of his. Matt came out first, he was our very first project.

<Dan is called out so has to leave>

Adam: We did Matt first then McFly. It was really good.

You guys came back and toured last winter.
Adam: Yeah, that was amazing. We just put some dates on sale. No promotion or publicity.

It must have been very heartening that the fans came out after so long. Especially with the lack of publicity.
Adam: Yeah, it was brilliant. It looked more like a Top Gear audience. Last time we played the crowd was younger. Then we looked out and the audience looked like a lot of Jeremy Clarksons. They all found out we were playing. There is still a pretty big fanbase there. We didn’t do a single interview. As far as everyone knew we split up long ago and weren’t coming back. We got to London and there were 1400 people there. We couldn’t believe it. It was really heartwarming.

Is that what gave you the drive to reform properly?
Adam: Yeah, then Jared called. We’ve known the whole band for a long time. The Bloodhound Gang played with them Three years ago.

How different is it playing with the Bloodhound gang?
Adam: It’s a lot different. Ther’re not my songs. The Bloodhound Gang songs are some of my favourite ones ever written. I was a big fan when I first heard them, when we first met them back in 2000. It’s great playing them because I love the songs but it’s not the same when you’re not there as part of the writing process. There isn’t quite the same connection as “A”. Those guys can go anywhere in the world and sell out. Ukraine, Poland, Lapland . . it doesn’t matter, anywhere. There aren’t many bands like that. And they will go anywhere. They put a lot of work in.

You’ve been involved in the music industry for quite some time, whether you’re in a band or behind the scenes.
Adam: Yeah, you’ve got to be. These days you’ve got to jiggle as many plates as possible unless you’re Muse. You can’t make a living from playing music. You have to get your fingers in a few pies.

Does that help you get more of an insight into the way the industry is shaped?
Adam: Yeah, it definitely does. I manage artists. Jason is one of the biggest rock producers around and Dan is a radio 1 dj. We have got a bit of an insight into how it all works.

And what about your new project, BandApp?
Adam: BandApp launches on the first of November hopefully. BandApp.com. It’s aimed at unsigned bands. The idea is to make it into the new mobile myspace. You go onto BandApp.com and for £20 you can make your own iphone app easily. There’s no waiting. The second you press submit, the app is live on your phone. It’s free to your fans. It’s a great marketing tool. You get 10 tracks added to itunes so it’s a mini record deal. There’s a chart. There’s a store with a 90% payout. It’s a great rate for getting paid for your songs. Hopefully BandApp will be the mini record deal your band has been waiting for.

Are there any bands signed up yet?
Adam: Yeah, we have a few partner bands like The Blackout, Kids In Glass Houses, Bloodhound Gang, Bowling For Soup and us. Mastodon are about to do one as are Young Guns.

Quite high profile bands.
Adam: Yeah, fans will be able to download their apps for free. Every band gets the same app. So you’re unsigned band would have the same app as Metallica. There’s no red tape, no barrier. Every band has the same tools at their disposal to make their app. It’s simple, just drag and drop. Just like making a myspace page. Your music is sold, there’ll be a BandApp chart and a BandApp tour. If you do well in the chart, you could get on the tour. One of the partner bands will headline. You can make money, see what fans you have, see how many people download and open your app. You get content views, numbers of music listens. It’s all there in one place that your fans can access easily from their phones. Not bad for £20.

Ok, we’ll leave it there guys. Thanks for your time

Interview By Craig Young