The first time I met The Futureheads was at the festival formerly known as Witnness, way back in 2003. Having heard nothing of their music (until recently), it was the image of the band that remained in my mind: four former school friends from Sunderland – young, eager and sunburned - waxing lyrical about the thrill of playing festivals. I found them endearing and I’d hoped that they would go far.

Today I’ve been given a number to phone The Futureheads on, and an enthusiastic Jaff Craig picks up at the other end. This time they’re on a bus, en route to London, Ontario, playing a support tour with native heroes Hot Hot Heat.
No, it’s not their first time touring in Canada, but it is their first time in “small town Canada”, which has had its surprises. Apparently no one informed The Futureheads about the conditions at the Whistler ski resort gig.
“We went for breakfast in the morning and I’d just put my suit on to play the gig. We sat down and everyone around us was in sports gear,” laughs Jaff. “I couldn’t have stuck out more like an Englishman!”
But that was mild compared to the shock of performing al fresco. Were they able to generate enough body heat with their onstage activities?
“Well we tried,” he giggles. “Actually we went down really well. We were the coldest people there because everybody else had their skiing suits on and hats and scarves!”
As well as performing at the foot of a mountain, the tour included a gig at West Edmonton Mall, which, according to Mr. Guinness, is the biggest shopping centre in the world.
“That was very odd because it was exactly the same as the Metro Centre, which is like the biggest mall in Europe, just down the road from Sunderland,” says Jaff. “We were turning up at this place expecting to see all this amazing stuff, like loads of different shops, a swimming pool, ice-rink and a theme park… Well, we got there and it was just like the Metro Centre – it was crap! It was the same shops you get everywhere else. But the gig was great. Not many malls have a venue inside.”
So how did The Futureheads go from playing the Sunderland cricket club to the world’s biggest shopping monolith?
“Franz Ferdinand offered us their support tour in September [2004], which was pretty much the best tour a band could get. In the world! And once we did that there was a kind of appetite for us in the US.”
This was followed by two more tours of the States, the last ending in March at South By Southwest. It was there they met, and were asked to go on tour with, Hot Hot Heat – which bring us neatly to the present.
“We pride ourselves on being a good live band,” says Jaff of their success. “The kids come to our shows and tell all their friends to come back next time. The press can write about you as much as they want and the radio play really helps – even though we haven’t had that much – but if you play a good live show you’ll still do OK.”
The Futureheads have just re-released their album (repackaged with bonus DVD, no less) – feeding the demand created by their recent single, a brilliant re-make of an old Kate Bush song.
“When we released the ‘Hounds Of Love’ cover the radio went all over it and loads of people were hearing the band for the first time,” notes Jaff. “And we’d run out of albums in the shops, as it happened anyway.”
Also propelling The Futureheads are the makers of hit television programme-cum-music-promo-machine The OC, who used one of their songs in a famous party scene. And while they haven’t been asked to perform at The OC’s fictional venue ‘The Bait Shop’ (à la The Killers and The Thrills), their current single ‘Decent Days And Nights’ is enjoying exposure from its inclusion in the new Music From The OC compilation, Mix 4.
Jaff reveals talk of a future collaboration with fellow Britrock darlings Bloc Party.
“There are rumours of that happening,” he says. “There’ll be a remix thing where we give them a remix, they give us a remix and we’ll put it out of a 12 inch or something. That’ll be really cool, I think.”
Meanwhile, it's full steam ahead on the promotional front.
“We’ve got tours lined up ‘til the middle of October at the moment,” says Jaff excitedly. “And we're playing Cork in May.”
With nothing secured for the capital city, Futureheads fans can catch them playing Oxegen in July. Something tells me that they won’t be so sunburned this time around!

The Futureheads play a Heineken Green Room Sessions gig in The Savoy, Cork on Friday May 20. hotpress.com is giving awat tickets to the gig, including a VIP trip to Cork. To enter, click here.