Rob cuahgt up with John Nolan from Taking Back Sunday to talk about the band's line up, new album and much more.

Last year you regrouped the original band line up, how did this come about and how have things been going over the past few months?
John Nolan: We got back together, through our drummer mark, he was the one who instigated it, he started talking to Adam and Eddy about the idea while they were still touring and doing stuff with the last line up, they agreed to than if Shaun an I were, we started reconnecting gradually before making any decisions, the last step before fully reforming, we got together in a studio in El Paso, Texas, and started working on writing some songs, and see how that would go and hang out, the first night we just hung out, then over the next few days talking about the past and everything that had happened, and how we felt about it now, we sorted it out and put the past behind us, Then we reformed.

You released yourself titled album back in June, how has the album gone down with your fans and the press?
Its gone down well, As far as I can tell, we got to see on the last tour in the summer, we got to watch the reaction to the new songs as we played some before the album was released, , it was cool to see people catch on and get excited about the new songs. I think There's part of out fan base who would have liked us to have done, tell all your friends part two, I know there are people who are disappointed by that. That's fine but that's not what we wanted to do.

How did you find the whole writing and recording process for the new album?
Of the songs we wrote when we were testing the ground, a bunch made the record, we went back to El Paso after that first week then spent another two weeks there writing, we came out of that with 17-18 songs worth of music, some lyrics and some melodies, out of them, 6 made the record in some form, some of them like the song El Paso, was a song that made it in the same form as it was written then, Best Places to Be a Mom went through some changes, and the rest went through a few changes too.

What themes and stories do you cover within the album and what would you say your favourite track from it is?
There wasn't a lot of conscience themes or stories, that Adam or I were thinking about with the lyrics, I did end up feeling listening back that a lot of the themes is to do with having grown up and real adult relationships ones that your committed to and making them work, There's a lot of that in the album, the good and bad parts of making a working relationship work. But I also some how feel that all the different experiences we have had, whether they be Adams, mine or friends , in the lyrics, I feel There's a fictional couple that comes out in there, but its not something I heard till I listened back to the album. The songs are different snap shots of this persons relationships in experiences, highs and lows or these experiences.

You headed over to the UK back in May for a full length UK tour but has to reschedule some of the shows for August, what was the reason behind this? And how does it feel to be playing those shows now?
When we were first gonna come here, there was a lot going on with preparing to release this record, the way it was scheduled we felt we needed to be at home and make sure everything was set before coming here, and also at point we had Leeds and Reading scheduled and it made sense to come back after the album was out, and it feels great to be here finally, Shaun and I never got to do a tour of the UK, as we left right before we were supposed to do one.

You played the main stage at the Reading and Leeds festival last week, how did you find the festivals? And what is it about Reading and Leeds which makes bands like yourselves come back and play time and time again?
It was my first time doing them, the bands 5th or 6th, it was a pretty overwhelming amazing experience walking out there, it was early in the day and I hadn't seen the crowd at all, I came from backstage to this huge crowd. I guess There's a prestige to being asked to do it, its an honour to be asked and asked back. So many great bands have played it and its one of the few times for many bands to play to a crowd that big.

How do shows in the UK compare to those back home?
There is different vibes, nothing major but over here, I think tell all your friends took off slower over here than at home, that when we put of where you wanna be, songs from that album get a big reaction, and some times in different cities it hard to keep the excitement level high in the crowd, back home its like a frenzy but here you gotta work a little harder, to keep people going.

What do you have planned once your UK tour comes to an end tomorrow in Southampton?
We are going home and doing a Fall tour to play places that we didn't in the summer, and possibly a South American tour after Christmas, but that's still tentative. Its gonna be more than a handful of shows though maybe two weeks.

What’s your take on the digital revelation killing off the music business?
Its a weird position to be in right now, on one hand its effected this band and ones I've been in before this, and you can see its harder for bands like us who actually were able to sell records at one point in vast quantities to maintain the kind of success we had, There's that struggle, and its a little sad to see people getting fired and downsized at these record labels. On on hand, it sucks seeing people getting fired and its harder to sell records these days but on the other, you see how it used to be run and the whole record system that it was bloated and corrupt and not a good system, it wasn't artist friendly, I think about and they had it coming, its complicated.

Where do you hope to see Taking Back Sunday in a year’s time?
I hope to see us still touring on this record and having a good stock pile of new songs and getting back into the studio after this touring cycle is done.

One last random question that we ask every band, if you could be an animal out of a zebra or Giraffe which one would you be and why?
I would go with a giraffe, there a cool animal with that crazy long neck and don't seem to have that many problems with being attacked by lions and tigers and things.

Thanks for your time is there a message for your fans reading this?
Just thank you really, thanks for sticking with the band and we hope to keep making music that they like.

Interview by Robert Lawrence