An Interview with Athlete (2/2) By Steve Rudd

(1/2), (2/2).

Back when you released your debut album, Vehicles and Animals, did any of you conceive in your wildest dreams that you might become as commercially successful and as highly respected as you have? I don't think we ever really thought about it. We've always just tried to enjoy what comes our way. I remember when we first heard ourselves on radio. We were Jo Whiley's 'record of the week' with our first single Westside. At that point I didn't think it could get any better. Since then so much has happened and I still pinch myself all the time to see if this is actually happening.

Who actually first came up with the band name ... and why? It's a boring story; band names are the most difficult thing to come up with. They're all bad. Oasis, Blur, U2, and even The Beatles are all terrible names when you actually think about it. Radiohead and The Sneaker Pimps are the only good names that have ever existed. Although a friend has a kind of Casio Electro Indie-Pop band called Camp America, and that's pretty good!

How have the recent tour dates been going and do you have a favourite UK town or city in which to play? The tour is going great. Having been in the studio for quite a long time it's so good to get out and play live again. I actually think that that we're enjoying playing more than ever. It seems to get louder every night which is great in my book! Glasgow is always our all time favourite city to play, although we didn't do it on this tour because we did it recently, although we did do Aberdeen last night, so that gave us a good helping of the Scottish spirit

Finally, what does the rest of 2008 hold in store for the band and Athlete fans alike? Well were just finishing up our UK tour at the moment, then there's some talk of going to the US. Then we're looking forward to doing some festivals over the summer which should be amazing. We've not done festivals for a couple of years now so I can't wait, especially with so many new festivals happening all over the place.

Also, we were talking last night about maybe doing a Highlands and Islands tour. Loads of Scottish bands seem to do that and I've always loved the idea of it, so why not give it a go? Apparently you find yourself in all sorts of little pub back rooms and village halls. Sounds perfect! For more info, please visit www.athlete.mu

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