Hundred Reasons are a fire-spitting circus of a band, known for juddering choruses and great hair. But what lies behind the music? Roofdog caught up with Hundred Reasons singer Colin Doran and guitarist/vox guy Paul Townsend pre-gig on their recent tour to find out..

Roofdog: You've recently had some success i.e. good NME/Kerrang! coverage, sold out gigs on this tour etc. Are you overwhelmed by it all or do you think that the recognition is kinda due, when considering the work you've put into the band up to this point?

Colin: Personally it's not something I think about a great deal cos when we've been in the studio practicing or on tour we don't see it happening so we kind of just crack on with what we're supposed to be doing and let other people worry about what's happening around us.

Paul: Every now and then you get something that makes you realise that you've moved on quite a lot and it'll be a big shock and everyone will be really happy and we'll drink too much and celebrate and it'll be great. But normally we're just completely clueless to what's going on around us.

R: When you read a good review of yourselves is that something that motivates you to keep up the hard work?

C: We read NME and Kerrang! every week just cos we always have done anyway, so whether we're in it or not it doesn't make a great difference.

P: We've all been in bands since we were about 12 years old so we've always rehearsed every week and I've always worked really hard in the band so I don't think NME or anything has made any difference cos we've always been well into it.

R: So if you got really big you wouldn't let it get to your heads?

P: I hope not. I don't think there's any way of telling really…

C: Everyone in the band is really quite grounded so if one of us starts acting like a wanker we'd literally just say 'get it together, stop being being an idiot' cos we're all totally honest with each other, we're like best friends, like brothers.

R: How did you feel when you won the Kerrang! award?

C: Happy!

P: Kerrang! were doing this thing at the time where they were trying to put out to people that there was a lot of British talent around so for 'best new British band' they wanted to get as many nominees in as possible just to show that we had a good British scene…We figured we were just there to make up the numbers, we didn't realise we were actually there to win the award. We never expected to win it so it was a complete shock to us.

R: Can you give a brief history of how the band formed?

C: Hundred Reasons came about through two bands, Floor and Jetpak. Everyone except Larry was in Floor. Things didn't work out too well with Jetpak so that was in Limbo for a while and things weren't really working out with a certain band member of Floor. When that person was no longer in the band Larry wanted to join because the two bands had the same management and we hung out with him for a bit at the studio…

P: …we'd all jammed together before. I'd auditioned for Larry's band so we all knew each other and we all wanted to go in a similar direction.

R: Do you think that Hundred Reasons goes in either direction of Floor or Jetpak or are you a fusion of the two?

P: I don't think we've gone in the direction of either of them.

C: No, not at all. I mean, Jetpak was super poppy…

P: …Kinda punky, happy, Weezer type pop…

C: …and Floor was quite, well it was actually nu-metal before nu-metal.

P: It was kind of between Tool and Deftones.

R: Would you say you're more like Floor then?

C: No. We've just grown up more as musicians so the stuff we write now is different. We can create better music now whereas before Floor was kinda a 'no brainer' thinking back.

R: How would you define your music?

C: Rock.

P: Yeah that's simply it. Rock.

C: It's always just about Rock.

P: It's got influence from Punk and Metal and some even say Emo but generally it's just Rock music.

R: So who are your favourite bands/influences?

C: I haven't really got favourite bands but bands that I listen to quite a lot and bands that I'll always respect. Bands I'll always respect are Guns 'n' Roses and Faith No More and although I don't listen to them a great deal, when I hear them I'm always like YEAH!

P: We all come from different musical backgrounds and we all kind of educate each other on different musical styles. We all listen to Hum and Cave In and Stapleton now cos we're on tour and there's only one CD player on the bus…

R: If you're all into different music does that influence the way your stuff comes out?

P: Yeah, I think so. Literally, Larry's into Emo, Andy's into Indie, I'm into Grunge and 70's Rock, and Colin…

C: I'm a metal kid. We all have our own influences and we all bring it into the band.

R: Do you think most of your influences come from this country or the US?

C: I just think it comes out of music in general because it doesn't matter where it comes from…I don't understand all this Brit Rock and American Scene crap. Good music is good music but everyone's coming out with this 'Brits competing with America'. I think at the moment, if you were to compare the two, English bands are more original cos the way the Brits are going - not commercial success wise but music wise - some of them are getting up there and doing it better than the Americans. All we seem to be getting from America at the moment is regurgitated nu-metal crap.

R: Do you think you're ready now, having had relative success here, to go to America?

C: I don't even think about America. If we end up over there then we end up over there. But we're just happy to be doing this and we'll take each day as it comes.

P: I don't think we'll ever be completely confident, we always kind of put ourselves down. When we have a crap gig that'll be it: 'we're a crap band'…

C: The day you think you're the best band in the world is the day you've disappeared up your own arse.

R: Dave Sardy (Marilyn Manson, Helmet, Dandy Warhols) produced your album (out May 20th). What was it like working with him? Did he give you reasonable room to be creative or were there constraints on recording to fit in with the latest trends?

C: We had about a month to do the recording itself but all the songs were already written. Dave came to a practice the day before recording so we could meet him and so he could hear the songs and know how to get the best sound out of them.

P: With Dave Sardy we just worked on the sounds as opposed to anything else. He's a genius like that.

R: Are you enjoying this tour?

C: Hell yeah.

R: What do you enjoy most about touring?

P: Just having a gig every single night is awesome. If you have a bad gig you've got a gig tomorrow and if you have a good gig you've got another one tomorrow. It's the coolest thing in the world. I love it so much.

R: Would you say that touring is the best thing about being in the band then?

P: For me it is.

C: Yeah, I enjoy touring the most as well. Larry enjoys the studio more, he's very into his mixing.

R: What do you think of the current music scene in this country?

C: It's wicked.

P: I think Rock's doing really well. A getting into the top 10 is so cool.

R: Do you think the Rock Scene is coming back?

P: Definitely.

C: I think it's awesome just cos pretty much all the bands involved in it are different to each other. No one sounds the same. Everyone's doing their own thing and doing well at it.

P: I don't think you can name two British Rock bands that sound the same. You've got Lost Prophets, Raging Speed Horn, Vex Red, Seafood, Capdown, and us.

And aren't we lucky! Cheers to Colin and Paul for doing the interview on their cosy tour bus prior to their gig at Brighton Concorde 2.