Regarding how to deal with the tide of illegal downloading and the erosion of CD sales, the band’s Serge Pizzorno openly admits to a sense of helplessness. “We don’t really have a plan – you hope somebody will think of something, ” he says. Singer Tom Meighan is resigned to the fact that fans are as likely to steal their music as buy it. “There’s nothing you can do about it. If it happens, it happens,” he admits.

Looking to the future, bassist Chris Edwards tells Hot Press, “Record shops won’t be around, albums will probably die. No one has to queue up for an album. There’s no hysteria, no looking forward to it – you can download it months before, if you search the web enough. There’s nothing special about it now. If you get signed to a record company nowadays, you don’t get signed for your album – you get signed for your merchandise, your live gigs, everything.” “Record companies can’t exist cos they’re not making enough money off the record any more,” he adds. “It can be difficult for young bands. Even if you buy an album online, you still haven’t got anything. I want to be able to hold something in my hands!”

Pizzorno says wistfully, “Wouldn’t it be phenomenal if there was some sort of wave that hit earth and wiped everyone’s computer and the only thing left was CDs and records?”
To which Edwards adds: “You could go down and blow up iTunes so there’s no songs on the internet! Then wipe out all the hard drives – beep! Then everyone would have to get CDs and records.”