AARON Bruno is one of America’s biggest rock stars.

As AWOLNATION he has mixed up rock, dance, industrial and pop into a wildly successful package.

Yet the singer reckons he’s still got a chip on his shoulder - to make sure he never loses what he’s got.

“It doesn’t come natural for me to wake up and feel good,” he says, ahead of a gig at the Garage next week.

“I don’t wake up and think ‘I’ve sold millions, I’m the king of the world’, I have to remind myself that things are good and I’m not ailing like I was before.

"I guess I carry around a bit of a chip on my shoulder about it, because that’s all I’ve known, and sometimes my peers need to remind me that ’you did it, it’s OK.’

But Aaron still relishes feeling he’s up against it, even though he had a huge hit with Sail in 2011 (it went six times platinum) and new album Run went Top 20 in the American charts.

“I enjoy the struggle and the challenge - I grew up a punk rock kid, in the DIY scene, before social media, and we really had to scrape and crawl our way into everyone’s attention span.

"I still enjoy feeling like the underdog, even through we’re not that anymore.

“Even doing a sold out show, I’ve got a weird feeling that there’s another band after us who are the real headliners.

"It’s a weird thing that these people are there to see me.”

Although Sail cracked the Top 20 in the UK singles charts, Aaron hasn’t been able to achieve the same success here as he’s had in his homeland.

"That’s a shame, because Run is a genuinely bold record, covering a whole host of styles in just over an hour.

Coming off Sail’s offbeat success, Aaron felt more confident when approaching the studio this time around, but he wasn’t worried about trying to land another chart hit.

“I wasn’t chasing singles on this album, but I always write some catchy melodies, so I knew there’d be some options for commercial success,” says Aaron, who recorded all of the album himself.

“I knew I had the attention of listeners now - on the first record you’re singing into a megaphone ’listen to me, listen to me, I swear you won’t be let down’ whereas for the second record I knew there were millions of people who’d listen to the record because of the last one, so I had the confidence to start with a slower song like Run.”

Although Aaron had added confidence now that people were listening to his music, it also created some worries, too.

The 36-year-old has had previous attempts at securing music success, including the bands Home Town Hero and Under The Influence of Giants, but none had succeeded anywhere close to the scale that AWOLNATION has.

“There was a lot of ups and downs making Run,” he adds.

“Some times I woke up thinking I had the best album ever written, and sometimes I woke up thinking that no-one would like it or get it.

"It was a trip to balance the expectations I had, because first and foremost, I wanted to prove myself as a writer, a player and a musical entity, but just because you love something doesn’t mean that anyone else will.”

Aaron will be joined by a full band for his Garage gig, and the group’s live gigs are known for expanding on some of their recordings. That doesn’t mean Aaron totally loves the idea of jamming away though.

“For me, jamming can be such a bad thing, because it’s a fine line,” he says.

“When I think of jam bands or bar bands noodling and doing self-indulgent solos, that’s not what I wanted - bands in this day and age need to do it for a reason.

"There’s no appeal in doing it just to show off how good you are.”

He’s also keen on their Glasgow return.

“Scotland’s been an amazing part of our travels,” he adds.

“Our drum tech, Darren, he’s been with us all the times we’ve been to Europe, and he’s Scottish, and my fiancée is part Scottish, so there’s a place in the heart for there.

“We toured with Twin Atlantic in the States two or three years ago too, and they’re just really good guys - we had a great time with them.”

AWOLNATION, Garage, Wednesday, £15, 7pm