When Designer Magazine reviewed the very gig that this interview took place the hardcore contingent were dumbfounded when we suggested that My Awesome Compilation had tunes with hooks so big they could fill stadiums ala Bon Jovi. I mean why would their favourite band ever grow out of the scene and want to reach out to more people. Once we'd stopped laughing we actually got round to typing up the interview which conveniently looked at those punk ethics and the band themselves admitted that "if we ended up playing Wembley Stadium it would be f**king amazing". Read the full Designer Magazine interview with Andy and Darius from My Awesome Compilation.

Q: Going right back to the beginning for readers who aren't aware of your background. You took your name from your favourite tape?
Andy: Chris the guitarist made a tape and he just wrote on it My Awesome Compilation. We'd played in a band previously so when we started this band and had the new songs ready we needed a name and we just looked down and saw this tape.

Darius: What was on the tape? When we've been asked previously I think Chris said Jimmy Eat World and quite a few American bands most people wont know
 

Q: There's a whole stigma attached to underground bands. For example, we posted a message on the Punktastic board asking for bands to submit demos for In The City previews and got a load of arsey responses ala we're not dealing with the mainstream etc. Where do MAC stand on the underground vs mainstream line?
Andy: At the end of the day it comes down to money and what sells, but at the end of the day everyone starts somewhere. Unless you want to be like Girls Aloud or something...but then they're not going have a career, it's only something short-term. I think the better you get you just get your rewards at the end of the day.

Darius: It's not about the money. We just want people to go out and enjoy our music and if we ended up playing Wembley Stadium it would be f**king amazing. I think it is better though if you start off in the underground rather than going straight in head first.
 

Q: You get bands that did start off playing pissey little venues and then blow up massive, like Funeral For A Friend for example, who then get slated for simply selling records. It's a difficult position to be in isn't it
Andy: I think there's so many people out reviewing there's bound to be people that hate bands and they just do it to be arse hole's or to be hip. We had a review one time, and we don't get many bad reviews, and this review wasn't even concise or accurate or anything. It was just pathetic and we were like what was the actual point of doing this.
 

Q: This is the second date on the Punktastic tour with the Not Katies. Tell us how you got involved with the Punktastic team and the "Un-Scene Compilation"
Andy: We've never met the Not Katies before, we've heard the band though cos they've toured loads. Punktastic just wanted to promote the "Un-Scene Compilation" and we were one of the few bands with a record out at the moment. The actual CD is for www.punktastic.com who host our website which we set up about 3 years ago. The way it works is we just help each other out and return favours for each other - we get their fans and they get ours.
 

Q: Going back to what we saying earlier about the underground scene. The thing about the bands on the Punktastic CD / Forums is you can go to their gigs and every single one of them is sold out or near capacity but they are still simmering on the underground and not illfitrating the mainstream press
Andy: I don't know. We didn't get involved with them personally ourselves. It was someone who was doing our website that suggested we got a message board via this website. I think its doing great for us because I think sometimes things like the internet aren't interesting for bands and yet you want to get people visiting it and leaving message. With Punktastic you don't have to because people visit it automatically cos you're on there, we don't have to do any promotion for it.
 

Q: We're in Manchester today and in a tenuous journalist link you covered The Smiths "There Is A Light That Never Goes Out" on the Sorepoint Records compilation. The thing about the Smiths is that Morrissey went on to inspire something different (i.e. the hardcore bands around today) whereas Oasis And The Stone Roses just inspired dodgy tribute acts
Andy: I think it's because Morrissey has a lot to say politically and the hardcore bands pick up on it. Whereas Stone Roses and Oasis are all about the swagger and that's inspired loads of bands. Indie has no urgency about it or any punch about it. Keane, Doves, Longview have got some good songs but you wouldn't know who they were if you were forced to say exactly which band it was.

Darius: I think people are growing away from the indie scene. Rock's coming back in and you notice that if you look at any gig listings.
 

Q: Isn't "The View Is Amazing" the second mini-album you've done. Do you not want to rush ahead and get on to the first full length album?
Andy: The full album's going to be out in April next year. It's gonna be really exciting cos we've been playing these songs for a while now and they have the same energy when they play them live, but we're just really eager to get down and work after this tour. The new songs are a continuation of what we've been doing so far, but I think there's going be more use of keyboards.

Darius: Using the keyboard gives you another dimension when you're writing songs. It has more than a 2nd guitar can. Originally we did actually try a 2nd guitarist, but we thought we just sound like quite a few other bands. We wanted to make it slightly original and the way we did was bring in my brother in keys.

Andy: I think it's important to create an album that people can listen to in one go rather than put on one song. I think one of our hardest jobs for this album is to writing the consistent songs, but on the other side of it we'll be looking to try a couple of different tracks so not every song will be exactly the same. We've got a couple of tracks recorded all ready, but I think we need to explore some different avenues.
 

Q: You recorded the mini-album over in the states. Is there anywhere specific you have in mind for the album?
Darius: We were thinking about going back to America, but we thought it's going to be really really expensive for what we want to do with the album. We really liked working with Ben Moore who we recorded with and we're thinking about flying him over to England and recording it in and English studio. People say they can't imagine us recording these really poppy songs while its pouring down with rain, but it's all about the funds at the end of the day.

Andy: I think sometimes you have to get away from things to write good songs. Sometimes when you're playing with bands all the time, you write a song and it sounds exactly like everyone else. We want some chill out time and get away.