The Fibs Are Alright

ies? Us? We always tell the truth,” claim all three of Hoosiers, their expressions hovering between wounded and mischievious. The chart-slaying Anglo-Swede trio are notorious for their improbable tales, ranging from claims to be scholarship footballers in Indiana to making their live comeback in wire suits.

Today Ivan Sparkes, Martin Skarendahl and Alphonso Sharland are gobbling scones and fruit cocktails between interviews to publicise their upcoming tour, which includes an Arthur’s Day appearance
They're also promoting new album The Illusion Of Safety, which finds them radically re-working the formula of their 600,000-selling debut The Trick Of Life and its chart-bothering singles ‘Goodbye Mr. A’ and ‘Worried About Ray’.
“We knew we had to move on,” explains Martin, “We could have churned out more hit singles but we weren’t enjoying it anymore. To stay excited as a band we had to grow musically”.
Announcing a radical change in direction must have sent blood pressure rates rocketing at their label headquarters.
“Actually, they were really supportive of our change, which meant a lot to us,” says Ivan. “They let us record and write at our own pace and didn’t pressure us at all”.
The band hooked up again with The Trick Of Life producer Toby Smith.
“He had us completely hyped up about his new studio in the country – classic rock star stuff,” says Ivan, “It had converted stables, a tennis court, the lot. We couldn’t wait to get down there. When we arrived he was like, ‘it’s not quite finished’, and we realised none of it was built and we were standing in a pile of rubble.”
They found inspiration in the rubble courtesy of Toby’s collection of ‘80s synths, leftovers from his days as keyboardist in Jamiroquai.
“We also found a load of big moose hats,” adds Martin. “No inspiration there...”
Experimenting with the vintage gear – “and the idea of a real live band making pop music,” proffers Alphonso – they eventually cracked the code with ‘Choices’, a gilt-edged classic full of massive pop hooks.
“Once ‘Choices’ was in the bag, everything clicked and made sense. The rest of the material just flowed,” Martin enthuses.
Not without help from a team of professional pop songwriters though, a fact the band are refreshingly candid about.
“Initially we were disgusted by the thoughts of co-writing with a team,” admits Ivan. “We felt so weird about it, being, you know, a proper band and all. We ended up learning loads from writers like (Kylie and Sugababes hit-maker) Cathy Dennis. There are so many ways to approach songwriting. We’re really well equipped to do it ourselves next time”.
The Hoosiers are also quick to praise fellow tunesmiths The Script, having toured with them in their infancy.
“Oh man, you could tell straight away they were gonna make it big – those songs!” enthuses Martin. “We kept saying to them throughout the tour, 'Guys this just has to be a winner!' And it was.”
“They were very astute about it, had their heads screwed on about how good they were,” adds Ivan, “but never got caught up in all the hype. We met them again at a few festivals and they hadn’t changed a bit. They are still totally down to earth.”
Which brings us back to the tour.
“We’re pretty nervous about reproducing the album live,” Alphonso confides. “We played the iTunes festival last month and introduced seven of the new songs and they went down really well. It’s gonna be tricky though. We’re gonna need... a brass band! Oh, and all of Toby’s synths. And his hats.”