Don Broco head out on a UK tour on August 6, playing Glasgow's King Tut's on August 14, and release their brand new album, Automatic, on August 7. We caught up with the Bedford rockers' lead singer Rob Damiani to find out more

YOUR SECOND ALBUM AUTOMATIC IS RELEASED NEXT MONTH. YOU'VE BEEN AWAY FOR THREE YEARS - IT MUST FEEL GOOD TO GET SUCH A GOOD REACTION TO THE NEW TRACKS.

It's amazing. We were very conscious that this time around there were people waiting for new music, which was definitely part of the reason we allowed ourselves to take some time and make sure we were totally happy with the album. Now people have heard a few songs already it's very nice to begin to see some of the work we put in to the album paying off.

WHAT CAN FANS EXPECT FROM THE NEW RECORD?

The only real criteria we really gave ourselves when writing it was to not come up with a carbon copy of our last. Saying that, it definitely feels like a Broco record and we're confident our fans who liked our last album are going to love this one.

WHAT WAS THE CREATIVE PROCESS OF RECORDING THE ALBUM, AND WHAT ARE THE MAIN INFLUENCES?

This is the first album we wrote with our bassist Tom and was also the first time all four of us collaborated on every aspect of the process. Right from the get go every one of us was involved with every note, drum fill etc, there was no one boss man calling the shots, but a group of guys making music they loved together.

THERE'S A TOUCH OF 80S NEW ROMANTIC SOUND ON THIS NEW RECORD. WHAT'S BEHIND THAT?

In not wanting to tread any musical ground we'd already covered on previous releases we focused on what we believe makes us stand out among the millions of other rock bands around. We wanted to bring those influences to the forefront. There are a lot more electronics and keys on this record, and we definitely enjoyed experimenting with the layers and sounds they brought to the table.

YOU WORKED WITH GRAMMY AWARD WINNER JASON PERRY ON THE ALBUM, WHAT DID HE BRING?

For us, Jason was an incredibly calming and positive influence in the recording process. We'd lived with some of the songs for quite a while and they'd been through so many various incarnations it was easy to get caught up in the minute detail. Jason helped us take a step back and look at the bigger picture, while also making the entire process loads of fun.

FOR THE ALBUM RELEASE YOU'RE GOING TO BE PLAYING A SET OF SPECIAL SHOWS ACROSS THE UK, VISITING SOME OF THE VENUES THAT YOU FIRST PLAYED AS A BAND. WHAT MADE YOU WANT TO DO THIS?

We haven't done a small tour like this for a couple of years, so it was something we'd been talking about for a while. These are the places we cut our teeth playing, and despite the prestige and sense of achievement that comes with doing big venues, nothing quite compares atmosphere-wise to a sweaty club show.

YOU'RE GOING TO BE PLAYING READING AND LEEDS FESTIVALS AT THE END OF AUGUST. WHAT SHOULD WE EXPECT THERE?

We're all massively looking forward to Reading and Leeds, it's our favourite festival of the summer and this will be our fifth time back so very excited! They'll also be the first shows we do once the album is out so it will be really fun for us getting to throw some new songs into the mix and people knowing them.

:: Find out more about Don Broco at www.donbroco.com