Having just begun a tour of the UK, their opening night at Harlow is still fresh in the band's memory. "It was the Wild West!" says Davey, "there were thirty kids all walking across the dual carriageway on the way, and then when we were playing the electricity went out and we had to power everything from our van. It was like being in The Libertines! We've got Liverpool, Northampton and Cardiff to come and the reaction's been great so far. I don't know if you've seen The Beatles, how people used to react to them? Well, no-one's given us a panning, so long may it continue!"

Such humour punctuates the interview, the group seemingly enjoying even their promotional work. Davey does much of the talking, naturally, but then he's the one singing, writing the songs. When he's not talking and writing songs he also writes books. The creative ventures don't often overlap, however. "It's so much harder to write a lyric, with a book you can just write down anything on a piece of paper but with a lyric it has to fit the music, sound right".

His lyrics are fiercely original, an approach reflected by the song titles. "Yeah. Well, I looked at the words of the Backstreet Boys!" (Cue laughter from Andy and Joseph.) "No, I definitely try to have original lyrics. People just don't make an effort in a lot of pop music. Some guy sent in a review saying that we were a bit morbid but if you look at the song Girl Just Died, the lyrics say that people have an obsession with sex and death. I say, "Let's embrace it", not pretend it's not there!" MacManus writes incessantly. "Erm, yeah. I think so. But then you could say that I talk a lot of shit!"

So incessantly in fact, that he commits to a regular blog that can be found through The Crimea website. His lengthy but involving texts include notes on the Pakistan earthquake and its relative disappearance from the news. "Well you know I'm a bit of a natural disaster junkie, when it was going on I thought it was important to talk about it, wanted to talk about it. With the earthquake it just seemed so ridiculous that 112,000 people died and yet 2,000 or so people died in New York on September 11th. I'm not talking it down, but it just makes the point that when stuff happens in the western world so much more is made out of it by the media."

Returning to the band, Davey talks about their recent touring exploits, which have seen them spread their wings to bring their music to a wider audience. "We went on a tour with Billy Corgan in the States for a while; we did 12,000 miles in three months. With no air conditioning! You have to share a bed (nudge nudge, wink wink from Andy and Joseph) and just wake up at four in the morning covered in sweat. We went down south in El Paso, where it really does feel like the Wild West, more like Mexico. We've played there this year and last year - really loved it!"

A recent high profile performance for the group was at the Digital Music Awards, but Davey has mixed feelings about the experience. "It was brilliant, it was a shock you know, they managed to get us in at the last minute. I was pretty nervous, not used to being on telly and so you could see the whites of my eyes a bit, but no, it was a good experience."

So what do the band aim to portray in their music? Ever helpful, Davey responds with "Er, I don't know. It's like Kylie Minogue being shagged by...Tchaikovsky." "From behind!" smirks Andy. And are they, as many might suggest, similar to The Flaming Lips? "Well", ponders Joseph, "I think there's a certain mentality that's similar about us". "I had that Yoshimi", adds Davey, "and I personally really like The Flaming Lips and think some of the psychedelic comparisons are justified, to a point." "At the end of the day it's down to you guys," offers Andy, "you're the ones who hear all the music and form these opinions. We don't think about it too much."

Moving on to other bands the Crimea respect, Davey responds that "Ash were really good, Charlotte Hatherley and Tom Vek as well. I listened to a band called Stars recently who I really liked, and Eels too." "Girls Aloud!" comes the shout from the middle. "That was Andy, by the way!" excuses his lead singer.

The Crimea are described as hailing from Plaistow, but that proves to be pretty far from the truth. "We're from all over - Dublin, Zimbabwe, Andy is half Russian and half Welsh" (I think they're being serious...) "So Plaistow is just a stopping point for us. It's a horrible place actually."

Meanwhile the band, though touring heavily, remain focussed on their next move. "We've just been working non-stop ever since we got the deal with Warners. Music is our only way of fighting back, we don't want to be a poxy band that receive a load of good stuff for our first album and then don't do anything about it."

Fighting talk then, from a band prepared to make sacrifices for their music to succeed.

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Mercury Prize 2009 nominees