INTERVIEWING THE PIGEON DETECTIVES (By Ben Shafran)

Another brilliant Leeds band (seriously, where did they all come from?), The Pigeon Detectives are one of the must-see bands at this year's festival. Not only for their soon-to-become-legendary live shows, but also for an "I was there" moment, as they are likely become one of biggest bands in the country over the next 12 months. By Reading 2007 they will be on the Main Stage, guaranteed. We spoke to singer Matt.

You have been tipped to be the next band to “do a Kaiser Chiefs” and achieve crossover appeal. You’ve got quite a similar sound and range of influences, and obviously you’re both from Leeds. Also you will even be playing a similar slot at Reading and Leeds to the one the Kaisers played in 2004. How do you feel about this comparison?

We're pretty similar in terms of crossover appeal and ability to knock out a decent pop song, but I don't think the bands are too similar in overall sound. It would be great to emulate the success the Kaisers have had and if playing a similar slot to them is a good omen then that's fine by us!

You are expected to be the leading commercial band on Dance To The Radio, and to a large extent the future of the label may depend on how well you do. How do you handle the pressure?

It's fine really. Everyone at the label and all the bands signed to it want success but nobody puts any pressure on anyone! We probably feel more pressure from ourselves to be the best band possible than we do from the label. Our bank managers and credit card companies have started demanding success (or at least money) from us - that's probably the biggest pressure at the minute!

What are your plans for the rest of the year in terms of touring and releasing singles?

We're hopefully going to go on another decent tour (like the Dirty Pretty Things tour) fairly soon and then a headline tour of our own towards the back end of this year. The next single (first proper release, unlimited and with a video) will be in October, then probably another one in December competing for Christmas Number One.

How much progress have you made towards making a debut album? When can we expect it to hit the shelves?

We're making the album as we speak. I'm listening to Oli do his guitar part for 'I'm Not Sorry'. Should be out in January all being well.

You are renowned as an excellent live band. How do you intend to capture that energy for the purpose of studio recordings?

We've definitely had this problem in the past. Previous recordings have sounded a bit flat so this time we all just got in the live room and turned the amps up really loud. It's like playing a gig but over and over until you get a take that sounds right! We're planning on getting loads of mates/fans in for backing vocals to get the audience participation aspect of our live shows on to the album as well.

Do you usually draw a typical indie crowd to your shows or is the audience more varied?

Our crowds are really really varied. We get the cool kids with trendy haircuts and eye make-up, we get the young kids who all have parents waiting outside the gig to drive them home and we get 30-40 year old football hooligans. Everyone turns up for a good time and a laugh which is why they all come back for more!

How excited are you about getting to play Reading and Leeds? Did you use to frequent Leeds festival as punters?

This is going to be the most important gig we've done so far. It's a bit of a milestone because we've been going to the festival for the last five years. Every year we see some shit bands and say "we're better than that, we'll be up there next year" - and this year we finally get to play.

Who are you most looking forward to catching at Reading and Leeds?

I'm looking forward to seeing The Cribs, Kaiser Chiefs, The Sunshine Underground and Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

Lastly, do you have any festival survival tips?

Don't smoke while sniffing poppers (talking from experience), take plastic bags for inside your shoes to keep your feet dry if it rains and don’t try and be cool by only taking a leather jacket (if it's sunny you'll be too warm, if it rains you'll get wet and smell mouldy) - a good waterproof is the way forward!

Thanks to Matt for the rapid response.
The Pigeon Detectives will be playing the Carling Tent at Reading on the Friday.