What was the inspiration behind 'Automaton'?

Has anything changed in the way you approached recording 'Automaton' compared to your previous albums?

Jay... This project was different because we had to try and take our old sound and give it a slightly contemporary edge, without it losing

what we felt like people liked about us, and what's always suited the style we always created music in. So instead of using plugins on

Pro Tools, we decided to use a lot of old vintage '70s and '80's synthesizers in their analogue form as the basis for the music.

On top of that, the drum recording was done initially with plugin drums and then embellished on top of the live stuff - sometimes just with live hats - to keep a fluid feel to it. We were also careful about how we use horns because in the past we were criticized perhaps for being too retro, so we decided just to be very careful about how we used them. So it's a very fine line between having the sound that we've had and that our old fans enjoy, and bringing something newer that people who aren't familiar with the band could enjoy.

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How do you feel your music has developed from your first album to Automaton?

Was there anything particularly challenging or easy when recording 'Automaton'?

Jay... The most challenging part was actually starting up again. I didn't know whether I particularly wanted to carry on in the business because it can be overwhelming. It's a little bit different when you're younger, but the whole industry has change so dramatically now. Although you see artists who were from an era before me carrying on, they tended to have all their major stuff release long before the whole internet and social media thing ever came along. I still started at a time when you put out one single, an A- and B-side, and then you had an album and that was really it. There might have been a 12-inch remix as well, but now things have changed so dramatically that you almost have four times the workload and there was no "least challenging" part to that. So it was definitely deciding to start up and

debating whether it was worth it, but then again you continue to do it because you love doing it and you love creating music.

I love the buzz of starting with a blank sheet of paper then seeing songs come together, especially when you see and know when they're finished, and when you are overdoing or overcooking them, and when you feel you've got it right. The buzz of creating something from scratch and seeing that lyric you came up with in your head go onto a record, and then off to the radio and eventually you end up

with 30,000-40,000 people singing that line that you thought of when you were wandering around your garden thinking,

"What can I do for a chorus?" - that's the buzz and that's why most musicians do what they do.