Gut feeling revives fighters

And one of the biggest examples came with the making of the new album that has them back at Sheffield's Leadmill on Monday.

Having left his arena-loving guitar pop act life behind when he called time on Busted, the tall man with the eyebrows and his current colleagues were winded when their former record label tried to shunt them back in that direction.

"We sent our ex-label the least heavy songs we had written," confirms bassist Dan Haigh. "But they said they wanted a more pop record; they wanted us to be a more commercial prospect. That was the last thing we ever wanted to do.

"Having fought such a long battle to be viewed as a band in our own right, can you imagine how it felt to be told to go in a more pop direction? Did they really want us to go through that war again?"

It's a fair point. Having quit one of the most successful rock-pop acts of the era to make full time his more brutal rock project, Simpson had presented Fightstar with a challenge.

Yet with big, majestic debut album Grand Unification and a triumphant tour they nailed their colours to the mast.

Alas Universal wanted more, presumably knowing what Charlie had previously been capable of doing for a label's coffers, so the band quit and signed to Gut/Institute Records for follow-up album One Day Son, This Will All Be Yours.

As well as unifying their cause, the shift guaranteed Fightstar the freedom to record a collection of more personal songs with LA-based Faith No More producer Matt Wallace.

"Right now feels like the beginning of a new era," says Charlie.

"Like there's this great blank space ahead of us we can move into and explore. It feels like a new start, one where we don't know what's going to happen, where we don't know where we're heading.

"That's such an exciting feeling.

"This record is much, much more personal. Most of the first album was written in the third person and intended as social commentary; this one is about what has been going on in our lives.

"I've just been through a pretty horrendous break-up after a seven-year relationship. I had a lot I needed to say about that, so the record came at a very good time for me. It was almost therapeutic to vent it all on the album. I much prefer it to be personal - the record means so much more to me that way. In fact some of the vocal tracks on the album are actually demo takes because I sung those when my feelings were still very raw. I wanted those initial, blunt sentiments on there.

"Sometimes you do something and you know it's as honest as you'll ever get. That blend of aggression and tenderness is the most important thing to us. If anyone asks what Fightstar is about, then it's that."

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Surrey emo act You Me At Six are one of two supports. Also opening for Elliot Minor at Plug on the 19th, their debut single Save It For The Bedroom is out three days later.