Destine are currently back in the UK and we caught up with them to find out the bands history, news about their forthcoming album and plans for the future.

Thanks for taking time to do this interview, first of all can you give us a brief history of the band such as how you got together and came up with the name Destine?
We teamed up in 2006 and released our first EP. We decided to quit our jobs and studies and go all in and try to tour as much as possible. In our first years we shared the stage with bands such as Green Day, Jimmy Eat World, Paramore, Anberlin, Fall Out Boy, New Found Gory and 30 Seconds To Mars. Toured in over 15 countries and released our debut album ‘Lightspeed’ on Sony Music – which we recorded with James Paul Wisner in Florida.

Who would you say your main musical influences are?
Our main influences are bands like Jimmy Eat World, Acceptance and Anberlin. Though we listen to lots of other types of music too.

You have been busy working on your second studio album ‘Illuminate’ how have you found writing and recording the album compared to your debut?
Writing this album I locked myself up in a little house in the woods and wrote songs 24/7 for a month. I love to take as much time as possible to make the songs as good as they can possibly be. We were lucky enough to record the album with James Paul Wisner again, just like our first. He did bands like Paramore, Dashboard Confessional and Underoath before us and it’s a great feeling to know that he actually loves our music. While recording we stay in Florida for weeks and we feel we got the cooperation with James to a new level too. It was never our intention to do something drastically different and I think people would still describe the sound of the new album as very Destine, but I think there’s some new elements in some of the songs. For example, I wrote more on piano this time around and the songs are a little bit more dynamic, and more orchestrated.

The album is due for release on the 30th April what can we expect from the album?
Big choruses, honest lyrics and infectious hooks

What themes and stories do you cover within ‘Illuminate’?
I feel an element that can be found in most lyrics is the concept of hope. Some of the lyrics on the new record are actually pretty dark and cover doubt and fear at times. But for some reason I always find myself putting a small hint of hope in the lyrics, probably unconsciously just to ensure myself that nothing’s ever lost. We felt the album title Illuminate underlined it all perfectly.

What would you say your favourite track from ‘Illuminate’?
One of my favourites is All The People. It’s really something new for us to do such an anthemic song with not too much guitars, but it was one of the things that went without thinking. I wrote the song and demo-edit in less than 24 hours, which is way faster than I’m used to. It’s one of the songs that come from the heart most and I’m extremely glad that it came out of our hands.

You have recently had a slight line up change with Robin Fass leaving the band and JordyDatema joining the band, how has Jordy fitted into Destine?
He has actually already been a good friend of us for a couple of years, so when Robin said he couldn’t take the amount of touring anymore the choice was pretty obvious for us. He played in other bands in the scene in the Netherlands and lives in the town where we live. When we first took him to the US to record the new album he was like a kid in a candy store and every single day that reminded me of how blessed we actually are to do what we love.

You are currently in the UK on a full length tour, how have the shows been so far?
It’s been a lot of fun, got great reactions from the crowds, met lots of new people, and saw cities we’ve never been before. We can’t wait to go back to the UK, we’ll make sure people don’t have to wait for too long.

How would you say the new songs have been going down at the shows?
It’s always scary to play a new song live for the first time ever. Even if you rehearse it for days in the rehearsal room it still feels totally different on stage. The crowd seemed to like the new songs a lot and we had the pleasure of selling new albums for the first time at the merch desk.

How would you say playing live shows in the UK compares to those back home?
As the Netherlands is our home base we obviously toured there a lot and, as well as gotten good airplay on main radio channels for years. So when we headline the crowds are definitely bigger on this side of the pond, but we like both small and big shows. Touring in the UK is really important for us because it’s traditionally Europe’s number 1 country when it comes to rock music.

What do you have planned once your UK tour comes to an end at the end of the month?
When we get home we immediately have rehearsals, radio shows, interviews, the album release show in Amsterdam on April 6th, 3FM Radio awards gala and two shows in France. After that we’ve got a lot of festivals planned for the summer. Also we want to start writing new songs too as soon as possible.

What’s your opinion on the whole anti piracy laws going on at the moment and how it will affect the music industry?
It’s obvious that a lot has changed in the last 10 years and the nowadays’ generation is just not used to buying physical CDs anymore. You can complain about it, but the internet definitely got its advantages for bands to spread their music too. These times bands appreciate people’s support more than ever, it’s awesome to see that people stick around, keep coming to shows and actually buy our album.

Where do you hope to see Destine in a year’s time?
First of all I hope that we can continue doing what we love as long as possible. If we could tour in some countries that we’ve never toured before that would be amazing. Any chance to play new territory or make new fans keeps us going.

One last random question that we ask every band, if you could be an animal out of a zebra or Giraffe which one would you be and why?
Definitely a giraffe. I’m sure these boys must enjoy the amazing views they see everyday.

Thanks for your time is there a message for your fans reading this?
Thanks so much for stickin around, your support means the world to us. Let us know what you think of the new album on facebook or twitter, and hope we’re back in the UK as soon as possible!

Interview by Trigger