That shouldn't be an arresting statement, but it is. The Futureheads are a far cry from bands that portray themselves as perpetually knotted with stress and under pressure, cracking under the strain of life on the road.


Instead, the quartet of merry Mackems are recharged from a sabbatical which has seen them quietly drift off the radar after being indelicately dropped by 679 Recordings before slipping back gently with a series of postings on mySpace and small fan club shows.

"We took a year off from anything to write," Dave says.

"To be honest, getting out of that (deal with 679] was the best thing that ever happened to us because now we've set up our own record label, Nul Records, which we're running with our management company. We're our own bosses now and we're getting all the same treatment that we would with the label; we've just been playlisted on Radio One with our new single ('The Beginning of the Twist'] so it couldn't be going better really."


The band are now set to release their third studio album, 'This Is Not The World' in May: "The songs are going to be more traditional in their structure. The first record's mad, really stop and start. The second album is a bit more traditional, more 'song' songs, but this one's big choruses, the whole whack."

The positivity which Dave radiates now is a far cry from the rumours that the band were destined to split just over a year ago: "No, there was never any truth in those rumours, but we were pretty down. I was miserable."

However, it proved to be their emancipation. Dave is candid about the split with 679 after 'News and Tributes': "The second album still sold a lot more than a lot of other bands. We'd been on tour for two years and Bugs Bunny, Warner Brothers, was just like: 'Go and make an album. We don't want to hear any demos, just go and do it.' So we did.

"We hired a nice cottage in the countryside and set up a studio but we weren't thinking about singles at all so for us to think that the radio were going to play our songs or that we were going to go any higher…" he trails off. "We were a bit naïve. We just didn't have (writing singles] in our heads at all," he says, a tangible pang of regret in his eyes.

One of their biggest singles was their cover of Kate Bush's 'Hounds of Love', but any further experiments in that direction seem unlikely:

"We're certainly not going to release any more covers as singles. 'Hounds of Love' did us a lot of good and it's still great to play live because everyone goes ape-shit but I don't think there'll be any more covers. Although we might have to break one out," he chuckles, "we'll see how it goes."

British music in recent years seems to have become very fragmentary: there are different scenes or movements in different cities, new styles erupting then rapidly self-immolating. The whole process of forming a band, and particularly a successful one, is built on conquering the intimidation. Dave says: "There was a period when it seemed like every band was from London.

"You had Razorlight, The Libertines, all of those sort of bands. Then we came along, scruffy northerners just coming down to London and freaking people out. It was a crazy time… Going to London for the first time was terrifying," he says.

The band is settled now, though have not acquired the stand-offish arrogance of some of their contemporaries.

Indeed, The Futureheads, whilst hardly likely to be seen falling out of the Met bar or Nobu with a bevy of Page Three stunners ("I'm far too secretive (for the spotlight]" protests Dave), are nevertheless "friends with a few bands. Dave Grohl's a pretty good friend," he says meditatively and entirely without egotism. "He's done a lot for us and he's a big fan as well. It can be quite intimidating though. When you get into a lift with Liam Gallagher it's quite awkward but he's a lovely guy. But we're all musicians so there's an instant connection."

There is a delicious lack of deliberately accentuated self-awareness when in Dave's company. He is only too happy to talk, and tells a number of amusing and often self-deprecating stories.

Of the day that they were invited to play at Sunderland's Stadium of Light to celebrate their promotion to the Premiership he says: "It was a nightmare. No one could hear us, it was awful. There was a mascot, a cat, and he kept coming over and de-tuning Barry's guitar. Barry said: 'What the f**k are you doing?' and then him and this cat started having a massive row. I hated that day. There were hailstones too."
The band are also conscious of the privileges which their career offers, though Dave says: "It's a strange way to live. You're considered really lucky to be able to do it but it's a bit of a nightmare sometimes.

"When you're in a place, there isn't a lot of time to do anything apart from the gig. It gets so repetitive. It gets worse once you've been everywhere because you've seen everything. Being in New York and going through Central Park isn't so special anymore. But in reality it is and we're really grateful."

As his tour manager comes to hoist him away for a sound check, Dave leaves us with a note of optimism: "We're really excited about this year. Bring it on I say!"


This story is from the University of Sheffield's student paper, the Steel Press. Visit their webpage for more stories.