Boar Music takes on NME

_You met in high school and started your first band together at 14. What’s it like being in a band with people you’ve known for so long? Do you think it makes it easier to work together?_

You’ve got to spend so much time with each other. You’re sharing one toilet for half a year. You have to get along or know how to deal with each other. I think that would be really difficult if you didn’t know one another inside out.

_Since you grew up together do you all have similar taste in music, or it is more a case of each member bringing his own style and sound to the group?_

We would always exchange music. I think that was an integral part of our friendship even before the band started. I’m sure you draw out one of them venn-diagrams where plenty would overlap, but we each persue certain things further than the others. Jack’s huge on techno/house/electronic which can only help his riddim. Ed Mac loves all disco and Barry White and some r’n’ b which gets him singing plenty. I love shoegaze and people like Jim O’Rourke whose melodies I can pinch for the guitar.

_Your first album, Friendly Fires, was released in September last year. It was a long time in the making and you produced the majority of it yourselves. Are you happy with the finished project? Do you feel it’s a true reflection of all the effort that went in?_

We are all happy with it. You can hear all these little imperfections but hopefully that gives it a bit o’ charm. I feel proud that we did the majority of it ourselves.

_You’ve been travelling an awful lot recently, what’s been your best experience on tour so far?_

We got the chance to go and play in Japan where they stuff you with amazing food. The gigs over there went really well. Some guy in a wheelchair had his leg in a cast but when the chorus to ‘Paris’ came I actually saw him rise from his seat and hop about. The lame didn’t walk, but it was as close to a religious experience as we’ve had.

_Have you had any time to start writing for the next album? What sort of thing can fans expect from it? Will it be more of the same or a progression from the sound of your debut?_

We’ve been touring so much, it’s been hard to find any time to write. We’ve been playing with a trumpet player and saxophonist on a few gigs and that has sounded amazing. We might try and get a few more instruments into the sound, get it sounding more epic.

_2009 has got off to a good start for the band, what with the NME Tour and your single ‘Paris’ being nominated for their ‘Best Dance Floor Filler’ award, what are your plans for the rest of the year?_

More and more touring. We’ve got some exciting festivals coming up and hopefully we’ll be able to get some decent time to record summit new.

_Finally, on the NME Tour you’re playing with Glasvegas and White Lies. Have you met either of them before? Both have a gloomy sound which rather contrasts with your own cheerful electro pop. Have you worked out a mental health plan for how not to be converted to their dark and depressing ways?_

I think they use the stage to exercise some demons, because off it they’re the funniest, friendliest people we’ve toured with. Similarly, when we’re off stage we slump around like haunted pallbearers. Only joking, mental health is flourishing, far more than physical health. I can reveal that there has been an outbreak of some dutty stomach bug so no-one knows which end to point into the gutter, and on that delightful note, all the best.