What do you think of the reactions to and reviews of Open Season?
 | | British Sea Power |
"They were extremely flattering. In fact, it was critically acclaimed – five out of five all over the place. None of us had ever got top marks in anything before, so this was a first. The only one I remember which wasn't particularly favourable was a US magazine which gave us nought out of ten and told readers to ‘**** us in the face’. I think Good Charlotte did well that week." Open Season is more accessible than The Decline Of... Was there an effort to make this record more commercial than the last? "We did want it to be a little easier on the ear. The first one opened with male choral singing and then developed into an assault course - with obstacles ranging from one-minute rock-outs to a 13-minute epic. We wanted things to be clearer and not to repeat ourselves. This time our longest song was eight minutes. We mixed the first album ourselves, but this time we got Bill Price in who did the Sex Pistols, The Clash and Sparks and worked with Joe Meek. He is partially deaf but it wasn't a problem. He just turned the speakers up." Your inspirations aren't the usual run of the mill ones. Let's face it, ice shelves don't usually end up in songs. How do you come up with lyrics?
 | | British Sea Power |
"I can't really speak for Yan and Hamilton, who write most of the songs. But with regards to the Larsen B Ice shelf, Yan had just read about it in a newspaper the day before he had to do his vocals in the studio. Fortunately, it wasn't the Daily Mail he was reading. Otherwise he’d have written a song about how it’s such a shame how you don’t get good old, proper traditional tramps these days." Do you ever worry about ending up as a 'cult' band? "That’s not something that worries us. It's better to be loved by the righteous few than to be liked by a lukewarm many." Obviously there's been a lot of attention recently for Brakes and Give Blood is, if anything, even more individual than either BSP album. What do you think of it? "It’s possibly the best album ever made by someone from Stroud." There's been stuffed owls, giant bears, drums taken through the crowd... What can we expect next from a BSP live experience? | "It's better to be loved by the righteous few than to be liked by a lukewarm many." | | Noble on British Sea Power's popularity |
"We’re going for an Arctic theme. We’re currently trying to get hold of some penguins and an ice-making machine. If we don't succeed, we will just turn the radiators off." The live shows are featuring two sets from yourselves, with the first being a B-sides one. Why? "We like the songs and our audience does too. We rarely get an opportunity to play them live as you can get caught up promoting this and that. This tour and the 7-inch joint single we’re doing with the Wurzels goes a small distance off the beaten track - it feels refreshing before it's even started. One of the immediate benefits of being our own support band is that we get two dressing rooms and twice as much beer and crisps too!" | 
