THE Veronicas are wanting to make up for lost time.

After releasing their second album in 2007 the Aussie twins had to spend years on the sidelines, tied up in a row with their then record company.

It wasn't until last year that the pop sisters were able to bring out new music, with single You Ruin Me hitting the Top 10, and now they're embracing everything from international tours to having a knife fight in their music videos.

"We never really doubted putting out music, we knew we'd put out more music at some point no matter what, even if we had to release it ourselves independently," says Jessica Origliasso, ahead of a Garage gig tonight.

"But we felt we'd built the Veronicas up so much and that we could give this record the support it deserved.

"We were just really lucky to meet people at Sony Music who understood where we were at creatively and supported us 100%.

"There was a very loud sense of satisfaction when You Ruin Me did well - I Tweeted Warner Brothers (their old label) to say haha to them, but after that moment we moved on."

You could understand Jessica and sister Lisa's frustration at kicking their heels for so long.

Not only were they stuck not making music after Warners rejected their ideas for a third album, they then had to watch as other acts had success with the same sort of lively pop-rock they'd been playing.

The one advantage to their unintended break was that they were able to take time over writing new songs.

"Even though it was obviously a difficult and challenging period all we could do was keep focusing on the writing," says Jess.

"There's a lot of freedom in not having deadlines.

"That could inspire you, because sometimes you have to go into the studio and almost force it, whereas because we weren't on a very strict timeframe, we could just write when we were inspired, and all the songs ended up close to our heart."

The result was The Veronicas, an album that suggested a fresh start, from chart-friendly ballad You Ruin Me to the energetic likes of Cruel.

While most of the material is by the siblings, the track Always was penned by Emeli Sande, who Jess is an admirer of.

"She is a phenomenal songwriter and it was an honour to sing her beautifully penned words," she adds.

"I'm a big fan of hers."

They're also fans of Glasgow, after a lively past gig here.

"We had so much fun in Glasgow, everyone was close to the stage and it was like everyone was up there with us," recalls Jess.

"It was wild, and people gave us beer as gifts.

"I don't actually drink as much as I used to, but I'm still thinking the crowd will get wild again."

Speaking of wild, the girls showed off their rebellious streak with the video for new single, Cruel, featuring plenty of stunts.

"We filmed it out in the desert outside Los Angeles, on this freezing cold day," explains Jessica.

"The sun was out and we had to make it look like we were really warm - it was a lot of fun to shoot though, it's got a really cinematic style and is different from our last videos.

"There's a bunch of stunts in it and we're fighting using real knives.

"We're fans of David Lynch and Quentin Tarantino, so we wanted that black comedy edge over it."

Yet while the duo are back having a blast, their long absence led to plenty of reflection, too, and a new-found maturity.

"There's been a lot of self-discovery over the five years that we've been away..." she adds.

"I remember on my 25th birthday I realised I was a lot softer and more shy than I'd ever given out in my behaviour before, because I was always trying to be the extrovert and the rebel and Lisa was considered the sensitive one.

"Once I stepped away from that I realised I was a lot more balanced."

The future holds touring, writing and some of their charity projects. But given Australia's recent involvement in the Eurovision Song Contest, would the songbirds fancy a go at it?

"We'd love to do Eurovision, it'd be so much fun," laughs Jess.

"A lot of people watch it in Australia, and it looks like such fun, and everyone gets involved. So maybe we'll do it sometime."

The Veronicas, Garage, tonight, £14, 7pm