After 12 years, your sound has changed. Did you feel constricted by punk?
By 2003, we were beginning to feel a bit constricted.

The new album is a move away from that?
On a technical level, yes. There were certain playing styles, for instance, I’d never want do again. We wanted to challenge ourselves and it opened up possibilities, yet it all felt comfortable. We wanted the album to have a timeless quality: The idea is that the songs may not catch you immediately but they will last you 15 years. Whether we’ve  succeeded, we don’t know!

We hear that tragedy struck during recording...
We were about 85 per cent done when our producer Leonard (Soosay)’s hard disk at the studio crashed, wiping out everything except for a couple of snare drum tracks! But it was a blessing in disguise: When we re-did it, the playing was much better and the guitars were harder-sounding. 

So how do you deal with the groupie situation?
I hear about these groupies but I’ve never met any. At a recent gig, I ran into some girls offstage before the show started and they started giggling and screaming, “Oh my God, it’s him!” I was a little uncomfortable and was a bit unsure if I was even the one they were looking at! We get lots of teasing jokes on MySpace but none of us has ever been seriously propositioned.

For the full interview, check out Maxim’s August issue: Out now at all newsstands!