Madia Vale session for Radio 1 (29th March '08)

An early start (8am) and we’re all pretty knackered, especially as we played a late gig last night supporting The Twilight Sad. Ace night but feel “urgh” now! Still, to say we’re excited about our Maida Vale session is an understatement.

Simon from Brew turns up at my house nice and early and Tim’s here a few minutes later - we’re off. Several Gingsters pasties, traffic jams and, after Tim’s AWOL wheel trim almost wipes out Toby, James and Tom Brew in the car behind, we make it to London.

Maida Vale is a huge off-white low-rise building – just the one floor is visable from the street but it actually goes quite far underground. After making it through the manic but friendly security we take our own tour.

Firstly the canteen. A bit expensive and a bit disappointing for me. We should come back mid-week when the fresh food is back on.

Then Studio 1 which is amazing. A huge old skool BBC concert hall which is eerily absent of an orchestra with its many empty seats.

Then the in-famous studio 4, home to sessions by Nirvana, Radiohead, The Smiths and almost any other great band you’d care to name. It’s awash with stickers and graffiti of almost every band that’s ever played in there. You can still smell the sweat.

Our room is Studio 3 (see above). It's a large green studio (have you seen Joss Stone’s new annoying Flake ad – this is where it was filmed!) in which our amplified guitars echo off the walls beautifully. The desk in here is huge. 64 tracks. And the engineers, Guy and Gareth, are great. Real pros and friendly with it too.

After a faltering, nervous start we bash out three tracks. New one “Able Archer” takes four attempts. “Oblige” just two. “Build Around Me” we nail first time. It’ll be interesting to see which ones Huw Stephens picks for the show. We’re really happy with all three.

Next several bright lights are shoved in our faces and we’re interviewed for the BBC archives. Another scary experience. “Look t the camera”, ”Repeat the question”, “Don’t interrupt each other” etc. We’re not usually that good at interviews. We’re terrible at this one.

And in a flash that’s that. Time to go. We say our goodbyes and, a few motorway Whoppers and a bit of Motown later, we’re back in Leeds. It’s 11pm. A celebratory curry and a few tins at Toby’s then. Why not?