Q, Who are The Race? 

TR..dan, jess, james, gra and andy...two guitars, two organs, bass, drums, a glockenspiel, vocals and anything else we happen to fancy playing with at the time. 

Q, Where are you from & where are you at? 

We are from Reading, UK and currently live there too. We are meeting up in a bit to record some i.d's for a bunch of US radio stations, should be amusing.

Q, If you had to pick a musical genre to describe yourself which one would you go for?

I'm not a big fan of labelling bands with a musical genre as it can be very limiting and can lead to people having preconceptions about what you do, I'd probably describe us as some kind of guitar band. 

Q, You just recorded your second album ‘In my head it works’ what’s it like and what’s the reaction it’s getting?

We are really pleased with it. We're probably a little too close to it to be properly objective but I've recently had a listen and still like it which is cool, we've also been getting a positive reaction from others which is nice. I'm sure not everyone will like it though and that’s fine by us.

Q, Listening back to ‘In My head it works’ does it sound exactly what you wanted it to sound like?

I think its pretty close, Dave Eringa (producer) definitely gave it the bigger and more expansive feel that we were after without making it too slick and over produced. It still feels pretty raw and emotional too which is great. We probably all had different expectations going into it and what has come out is definitely better for us all having an equal say in how it turned out.

Q, What influences did you take into the album and do you think they come through in the songs?

I think two more years of life, hopefully we're a little wiser and a little less blinkered in our outlook, that’s definitely come across in the music too as we now have a much clearer idea of the type of music we want to make, we're not just setting out to please everyone anymore. We want to make music that moves people in their soul and not just their feet, music with a bit of depth to it (WE HOPE).

Q, Can you tell us about the way it was financed and about the deal you’ve got with Shifty Disco as we believe it’s pretty different.

We've been releasing our music through Shifty Disco since 2005. We have a 50/50 split on any profits and are free to come and go as we please, we've not left yet, Shifty are awesome and totally get what we are about. Its a great partnership. For this album they created a stakeholder fund of 1000 £25 units to give the album more of a push, the idea is that we share out some of the profits with the stakeholders and we benefit from their shared ownership and finance in the short term, its a really good way of connecting with our fans and has brought us a lot closer to them. They also have more of a vested interest in spreading the word about us too. The profit share lasts for 5 years so hopefully we shall make them some money out of it. There are still a few stakes available if anyone is interested.

Q, So looking back into the past what is your first album called and what’s it like? Rumour has it you’ve got it on special offer on your website, what’s the deal?

Our debut album was called 'Be Your Alibi' it came out in 2006, it was received really well, got some great reviews and led to european tours and festivals as well as UK stuff, it opened a lot of doors for us and is probably a big part of why we are still going now and why the stakeholder stuff has happened so easily for this album. I'm pretty sure its still available for £5 from our myspace page.

Q, What is you favourite song you’ve written & why? What song would you have loved to have written?  

I change my opinion all the time, at the moment I'm loving one of the b-sides of our next single Rude Boy, its called Holy Ghost and feels like it could be the start of a new direction for us musically. Likewise with other peoples songs I change my mind all the time and often play songs until I'm sick of them and so they don't stay favourites for long. An album I've been enjoying these last couple of weeks is Man Comes Around by Johnny Cash. I love the emotion.

Q, What song gets you dancing every time & why?

The cure, lovecats. I'm not a huge dancer to be honest, a bit too self conscious. 

Q, What is the most embarrassing song in your collection and why did you buy / download it … please be very honest! 

Can't think of anything obvious sorry. I used to like boyzone when I was 12? I got their greatest hits video with a birthday voucher from HMV.    

Q, What was the last song you listened to and why?

I was listening to Smile by Brian Wilson last night, so I guess the last song on the album. I love the instrumentation on it.

Q, If you had to pick five albums to take onto a desert island which would you go for and why? Would you take the two The Race albums and if not why not?

Again my opinion changes too often, I might take our latest album just because its a nice reminder of the last two years work and I've still not heard it too much. Other than that..hmmmmmmmmmmm. Hopefully some new music I've not heard before. There are very few albums I love that much.

Q. What’s a The Race live gig like? What’s your idea of the ‘perfect’ gig and what’s the worst live experience you’ve had?

What are we like live? Come and see...hopefully decent.

Perfect gig... the sound is great on and off stage and we are connecting with the crowd. I'm not too fussed whether that’s to 50 people of 50 000 as long as we are connecting musically.

Worst gig. We played to 4 people in Hastings. Our manager actually gave us the option of not playing! We played and were troopers. Its good for your soul to play to four people in Hastings. Things can't be easy all the time and it provides a good contrast to when things go well.

Q, (The standard last question we always ask!) In ten words write your own press release (swearing is definitely allowed!)…

Five passionate friends who still enjoy making music together. (9 words and cheesy).

February 2009