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Brigade, one of Britain's best and brightest rock groups, are currently on the rise and are one of the most refreshing bands to come from an almost bland scene of the same old genre. Last year, their debut album 'Lights' was extremely well received by fans and critics alike and they did all they could to cement a place in the heart of music lovers everywhere by constantly touring and playing explosive shows. We were given the opportunity to catch up with them when they supported the legendary Hell Is For Heroes at Newcastle University

OS: So, first off, for anyone out there who hasn't heard you guys, how would you describe the music that you play?
Naoto Hori (Bass): Rock.
James Plant (Guitar/Vocals): Yeah, just... Will's better at describing it.
Will Simpson (Vocals/Guitar): I always say big anthemic rock songs with walls of guitars. And lots and lots of melody. Simple rock songs with a lot of power to them.

OS: Last year you were featured in a lot more magazines on a more regular basis, so did that effect you guys much?
Will: Yeah, I think it's a double edge sword, because on the one hand people think "oh you know they sound cool. I like what they said they're doing.' So you get more people turning up to shows and going "yeah, I've read about you guys, so impress me." And they wanna kinda hate you immediately because they've read good things about you. You know, we're all culprit of that when you hear about a band and you think they sound awful and go "oh I can't believe they're so big because they're so shit."

OS: Yeah, but you can say that about anyone.
Will: So we get as much of that, but yeah the press was wonderful. It gets people's attention and the name around for the right reasons. If we were getting terrible press it would've been awful.

OS: So, looking back, how would you say 2006 was for Brigade?
Fim (Drums): Really good yeah. We were released!

OS: Yeah, how was it recording 'Lights'?
Will: It was up and down. A hell of an eye opener. It was stressful at times. It wasn't the easiest process and the surroundings we were in weren't the most flexible but it was great fun and we were really pleased with how it came out. And like Fim said [about our year], it just kinda ended up with a lot of things we never expected. The album getting great reviews and Kerrang nominations. And getting to do some great tours too. So we were really lucky and we had a great year. We're hoping this one will be even better.

OS: What's been the best moment in your career so far?
Will: We've all got different ones I think.
James: Well for me it has to be the Kerrang nomination. We were absolutely shocked when we got nominated and, you know, it was just a real honour. We went to the actual awards ceremony and saw all these rockstars walking around.

OS: How was the awards?
Fim: Drunken. Overwhelming.
Will: I haven't been that drunk in a long time. It was just, I think you could tell and they worked out that we were the newbies at it because as you go in they've got these shots of really strong whiskey which no one really was drinking and then we got handed a plate and were like "Yeah!" Then later on I regretted it. So, next year if we go, we'll be the ones that won't touch the whiskey on the way in. Yeah, you learn the hard way.

OS: You've definitely been more of a touring band, so does it annoy you when new, young bands sign deals and gain quick success without having played one show, since you've spent so long on the road? Such as Panic! At The Disco?
Will: It's frustrating when, yeah, for any band that's working hard, to see a band reaping the rewards while you're working your arse off. But we kinda think, we always realise that we're gonna, it's a long burn for us.

OS: Yeah, you're probably gonna be around for a lot longer.
Will: Yeah hopefully. Exactly - like in two years time we like to think that we'll still be on the rise while they get to the point where they've only got one go left.

OS: They'll have peaked at 19?
Will: Yeah, exactly, yeah. But then there's bands like Enter Shikari who, I might not be a fan, but I respect how much touring they've done. They've been everywhere, haven't they? So, in a way, I wish we could do as much as they do but we've got a nice bit of happy medium where we do a lot of gigs but we could do more but we've all got jobs.

OS: How do you juggle touring and recording with those jobs? >br>Will: It's really difficult - we just try. Like, all of us are always getting into bother, like we dunno if we can do this anymore, but we find a way. But, it's really difficult to play. You know, we only really play when we're on tour because when we're back we don't get the chance to rehearse that much. So it is tough, but with each year we hope that maybe we'll get close to it being more the band and less of the jobs.

OS: You've toured with a lot of bands, which has obviously helped your fan base grow so much, so who was the best band to tour with?
James: Probably Fighting With Wire. They were an amazing band to tour with - they were really really nice and they're an amazing band and yeah. We just got on so well. We were out for a month with them and it was great.
Will: And because we were both co-headlining it really was like a brothership. There was no divide; it was just like a load of boys in a van kinda all doing a tour. It was great. But, then again, Hell Is For Heroes have been wonderful people and Reuben were great and Biffy [Clyro] were brilliant, so we've been really lucky.

OS: And how has this tour with Hell Is For Heroes been so far?
James: It's been excellent. Really really good.
Fim: Amazing.
Will: The crowds have been really full - every night it's been brilliant to see that people are really watching since a lot of people haven't heard of us before. But the support we've been getting has been really good and we've been having a great time with them and we think we've been playing our best shows we've ever played so yeah. It was really nice because we had that one at Newcastle Uni with Fightstar and that was one of our best shows. Yeah, those shows are the ones you remember which make it all worth while.

OS: What are your plans for the rest of 2007?
Will: Oooh, good question. But, it's the boring part of the interview.
James: Um, plenty more touring. Writing new material.
Fim: Writing and recording.
James: Hopefully recording another album.
Fim: See, told you it's the boring answer.
Will: Yeah, we haven't got anything set in stone yet so it's all like waiting and seeing, so we'll hopefully know in the next month or so what's gonna happen but at the moment it's all a bit..

OS: Yeah, I've got friends that want you to play Reading and Leeds Festival.
Will: Ahh, we'd love to! It's amazing when people say to us, you know, why don't you play it? But like, we'd love to just as much as you but you've gotta get asked to it and that's the simple fact.

OS: Right now, the market seems to be full of American bands like My Chemical Romance and Fall Out Boy, whilst some people are saying British bands are dying out. How do you feel about that?
Will: I think everything goes in cycles, doesn't it? And so, it's kind of, you know, it's definitely harder for British rock bands to hit the mainstream just because it's a certain type of sound that's dominating the airwaves like you said and we don't fit into that sound and a lot of other bands, like all the bands that we respect don't fit into that either. But then you know, Biffy Clyro are showing promise that something big could happen for them this year.

OS: And Bullet For My Valentine.
Will: Yeah, exactly. And Funeral For A Friend have got another album, Yourcodenameis:Milo. So it's still there. It's just sort of not as high profile, but I'm hoping if all goes great, in my opinion, I'd like to see all that shite die off.
Fim: It's just a fad right now. It's just a scene. The thing is just a scene. It's just like 'oh, what other bands can we find that sound like that and will sell some records?' Which is why there's so many around at the minute. But it won't last.
Will: But at the same time if we suddenly, the British rock sort of thing, got into it's own scene then that would be terrible for us.
Fim: Yeah, you'd be dragged into it.

OS: So you wouldn't want to be in that whole 'mainstream' thing?
Will: No, not at all. It'd be nice to get some more exposure but..

OS: That's the thing, there's exposure and then there's being everywhere.
Will: Yeah, it's overkill. Yeah, and it's sad the way radio works.

OS: Yeah, Radio 1 is so set up now, the way they can play a song over and over and make it a hit.
Will: Yeah, it makes me not want to be played on Radio 1 because I have so little respect for hardly any of the DJs.

OS: Yeah, you hear people saying that they're playing one song a million times a day and people are just getting sick of it.
Will: Yeah, how boring to hear the same song. Even BBC Radio 6, which I think is quite a good station, still play the same play list pretty much everyday and it's just like 'argh.'

OS: What bands/ albums are you listening to at the moment? And what are you looking forward to?
Will: Oooh, Biffy's album. [All of the band eagerly agree]
James: We're really looking forward to that.
Will: I've been listening to Aerogramme's new album which is incredible. That's my album of the year so far and god, what else? Oh, we're still listening to Tool.
James: Yeah, still listening to Tool.
Will: Amazing. That 10,000 Days. You just don't get bored of it. It's just a cracker. Oh, and Deftones new album ['Saturday Night Wrist'] is amazing.

OS: And, what music would be your guilty pleasure?
Will: Oooh.
James: Guilty pleasure? See, I quite like the Mika tune.
Fim: You don't!
Will: He's so sad.
James: Hey, I do like it. What an amazing vocal range he's got. I didn't really like it that much but then I saw him do it on the Friday Night project and he was doing it all live and my respect for him totally changed.
Will: No. But, oh yeah. Lily Allen. I really do quite like all her songs.

OS: It seems like a lot of bands these days quite like Justin Timberlake.
Will: Yeeeahhh, he's good but he doesn't float my boat.
James: Bit of JT.

OS: This one's a bit more random'
James: Is it anything to do with a koala and a...? We got asked a really random question last time.

OS: We could think of more random questions if you want.
Will: No no!

OS: Obviously you guys aren't 'emo', but what do you think about this media attack of bands that are put into that genre? And just rock music in general?
James: Have your rant, Will. He's done this before.
Will: It's totally, total bullshit. You know, it's just ridiculous. Just sensationalising a problem that's not even there. If anything, rock music's there to help people. When do you ever read about someone going "Oh god, I listened to My Chemical Romance's new record and it made me wanna kill myself"? I mean, it's like, people really love them, that's why people sing the words back at gigs so loudly because they really believe in them.

OS: Yeah, I am a really big MCR fan myself and it's really weird reading stuff like that. Br>Will: Well yeah, it's uplifting to you though, their tunes?

OS: Yeah, and after seeing them at Leeds festival and then seeing the article it was so unbelievable.
Will: It's just horrendous. It's like anything. People will get, try and sell newspapers out of anything. And that's no different. It's like "let's write an article that's really ill-researched" and, of course it then gets everything in an uproar. I mean, look at this whole Big Brother thing with Shilpa. I mean, how sad is that? That it dominated the front pages for so long and it really wasn't much of anything was it? You know, and so yeah, it's just total toss.