Rob caught up with Laurence Rene from My Passion at the Academy in Birmingham after their set at the Kerrang tour to talk about being on the Kerrang tour, their forthcoming new album and much more.

Thanks for taking time out to do this interview

First of all can you give us a brief history of how you become together as a band and came up with the name My Passion?
I’m not sure, it’s been about 4 years now, it’s been a bit of a blur out on the road, we've been friends since we were kids, My Passion has been built on that friendship. As for the name, it’s simple for what it was to us, there’s a lot pretentious style names out there, even we had a few pretentious ideas, in the end we went for something simple, it reinforces that cult thing were going for!

Who would you say your musical influences are?
It’s a real eclectic taste, I know a lot of bands say that, I like punk, dance, metal, pop, crooner stuff like fred astair, lou Reed, Bowie, Iggy and the stooges and stuff from the 80s to now. The bands we love are big characters, big shows, it’s something to aspire to.

You released your debut album Corporate Flesh Party last year, are you happy with the response the album has had from both your fans and the press?
Yeah I think for our debut album it’s done exactly what we wanted it to do, were quite a DIY band, there wasn’t much money behind it to make it a multi platinum selling album, it’s about building on what we’ve done before, it’s what we've done and it’s important to set ourselves out, and to grow and evolve from the debut, which is what we’re doing on the next album, were now doing things that we wanted to do when we were 19-20 years old, we wasn’t mature enough or in the right place to do it then, what we captured then was a collection of us up until then. It’s still selling well now and the fans like it and were proud and happy with that.

What would you say your favourite track from the album is and why?
The last track is really epic, Vultures Are People Too, it’s got a bit of bite to the title, dynamics are good like some other songs on the album, it goes through a hard style to a twisted lullaby, it’s all about impact with my passion, also the opener, crazier than me, it’s more of a newer song, it’s got a big guitar sound, good riff but still simple.

I understand you are currently working on your second album, can you give us a bit more information on this such as what direction you are taking and how far you have got with it so far, and what we can expect from it?
Its defiantly a step in all directions for the band from the last album, on the last album was a best of my passion, and since then it’s more of a cohesive piece of work and it relates to where we are now, we a bit older, a bit more cynical, bit darker in places, it’s gonna be heavier but more electronic at the same time, a bigger sound, but there’s a mixture of piano, there’s a quire planned, there’s dark and light moments, like my passion and life in general, I’m quite excited about it.

How do you go about writing your music?
Its defiantly a collaboration, I do a lot of guitar for the band, Jonathon on the drums, he writes guitar melodies, he’s one of them guys who you hate, because he can play anything, he does a lot of the synth stuff, also my dad is involved , he’s been in bands since the post punk time period, we started playing music with him, he got us into music, it’s strange having a father involved in that, it’s cool too though, its kinda like having Oscar Wylde writing lyrics and going, nah that’s not right, he’s evolved with us, my passion is a big family, he involved in the lyrics, and having that maturity about has helped with ideas, doing things like this instead of like that.

How does it feel to be asked to play such a long running yearly tour like the Kerrang tour?
it’s a great start to 2010, it was a year ago when we were first featured in kerrang magazine, we’ve been building up a following and them people demanding us to be in that magazine and voting for us, whenever the opportunity came up, after that they knew something was happening with us, if you asked us a year ago whether we would be here, we would have dreamt about it for sure.

You are currently half way through the Kerrang tour how have the shows been so far?
It’s been crazy, we maybe expected more negativity towards but that hasn’t happened, there hasn’t been a bad night, the people that have come along with an opinion about you have stayed open minded, and hopefully enjoyed our music, the venues are massive, twice the size of any place with played before, the opportunity is amazing.

You are touring with All Time Low, The Blackout and Young Guns on the Kerrang tour, what have they all been like to tour with and have you become fans of their music?
Recently I’ve been seeing the blackout a lot, there a great live band, it’s good to playing with a band like that, were sharing a dressing room, on most nights with young guns, there similar to us, down to earth and chilled out, we've had a few drunken times together, your on the kerrang tour, your gonna have the time of your life and remember it for the rest of your life too.

What do you have planned once the Kerrang tour is over?
We haven’t got a lot lined up; you’re never confirmed for a tour until it’s signed and sealed, were after a lot more tour action this year, hopefully doing some festivals. The big event we got coming up is recording our next album in April.

What would you say the worst and best thing of your music career has been so far?
The First 3 years, were the dark days, last year we came out of it really, we have dedicated our lives to it, which means that we haven’t had time to see friends, lovers, not having money to buy things, or get your own place, like so many school friends have done. it’s not till the end of the year just gone that we've started making enough money off it to live on, it’s what you dream of when you’re younger, becoming a professional musician is a great feeling, we’ve dedicated ourselves to it and its starting to work out and hopefully it’s the start of a long journey. The darkest point was when we were on tour in Europe, travelling through the Swiss Alps, when our tour bus virtually exploded, with all our stuff on it like clothes, passports and other personal stuff, the only thing that survived was our instruments and us. There’s a video of it somewhere, with us in our underpants, panning to us with a burning tour bus in the background, and the doors literally being blown off, then panning to the Swiss Alps!

You have your own clothing range called My Passion Fashion, this also doubles up as your band merchandise, and you sell everything from T-shirts to cups, to jewellery, how often do you come up with new items and how popular has My Passion Fashion been?
My Passion Fashion is us, we see a lot of bands paying a lot of money for designs, from America or from here, and sometimes, getting designs a million other bands have, most of the designs are visual, in the early days it was the only way of getting the band’s name about without having a lot money, so we use a lot of bright colours on lady’s chest to spread the word, getting our name about is what keeps us alive! Selling merch on tour is what keeps us going on tour; My Passion Fashion has a good ring to it too. We’re always looking to bring new stuff out.

Where do you see My Passion this time next year?
It’s hard to put a time frame on anything, a lot could happen, you never know, were really driven, the music we make is what we love to make. Hopefully we’ll be able to take it to the next level!

One last random question that we ask every band, if you could be an animal out of a Zebra and a Giraffe which one would you be and why?
A Giraffe, I don’t see many giraffes being eaten, and because like me there tall, and not many predators mess with giraffes either.

Thanks for your time do you have a message for your fans reading this?
Your bloody crazy, thanks for coming out to see us on the kerrang tour if you have done, some of the guys at the front of the queues having been wearing My Passion t-shirts, that’s been pretty cool. Thanks for the presents and thanks for feeding us!

Interview By Robert Lawrence