Hurts relishing their success

Mancunian duo also love and admire Interpol

Hurts proved once again that style and substance are not mutually exclusive with a daringly dramatic show on Caribana's Grand Scène on Thursday night.

And the Manchester duo - Theo Hutchcraft and Adam Anderson - took time out from their pre-concert schedule to speak to the Caribana website about the stunning success since the release of their debut album Happiness in September 2010.

Caribana: You only released your debut album Happiness  - which has gone platinum in Switzerland - last September - so how has the last 9 months been?

Theo says: "It has been the most insane time of our life. We went from zero, from being unemployed, from having no idea what was going to happen to us, to now visiting almost every country in the world. We've taken our music to places like Taiwan, to Iceland, Russia, it has just been the most unbelievable time that we could never have believed would happen to us."

Even before the release of Happiness, Hurts were a buzz band garnering media exposure especially their selection in the BBC Sound of 2010 poll last January. Did that out a lot of pressure on you?

Adam: It was exciting that really, because when that happened to us it got us exposure and then we got a lot of time to make and finish our record. We didn't have to rush it out or anything and we get asked about it all over the world now."

But before the album release you did not release a lot of music, even online. Why was that?

Theo: We wanted to be in control. We'd been f**ked around a lot by the record industry and we were desperate not to have our heart broken again. So we wanted for everything to be fully-formed and perfect when people saw and heard it and to be presented in a really exciting way. For us, it was about not giving your whole life away and your soul away just because you're in band.

You have been compared to Ultravox, Depeche Mode and other 80s and even 90s bands. What actually are your influences?:

Adam: I think it is funny when people compare us to bands because everyone says a different band; I think we just remind people that of a certain time in the 80s when music was very emotionally expressive and the music was expansive. Other people say we're like the Pet Shop Boys and I just can't hear that one bit at all.
Theo: Depeche Mode are a really important band, Tears for Fears are a really important band and people like Oasis, like the Verve, Prince and people like Interpol. This is a very exciting day for us. There are lots of these bands that made us want to make music and made us want to make a certain type of music.

Can you explain why your so popular in Switzerland where Happiness has gone platinum?

Theo: We've played great shows here in the past and it has always been a great country for us  - and this is our first time in the French part. But you never know why, you don't ask too many questions and just go with it. People we have met here all seem to just really understand everything about us and who we are, which is the best you can ask for.

You have been touring all around the world promoting the album. Is it draining?

Theo: We've done 60 countries - Adam: We were sat on our asses for five years -
Theo: And we did f**k all and you never expected to get the chance to go to Taiwan or Bali or China or Dubai or Reykjavik and every day you wake up to play a show and to play our music to people.
Adam: It is great, an additive job. You have got to enjoy it, you have got to make hay when the sun shines.

So what do you make of Caribana then?

Theo: It is beautiful here and we are playing with one of our favorite bands who have influenced us the most in Interpol and also Wolfmother. Its absolutely amazing. I love Wolfmother, I've seen them lots of times.

Adam (on Interpol): I bought their first album around the time I got into playing guitar and they were a massive influence on me. I went to see them in Manchester in 2002 I think and their first album was incredible, one of the best debut albums of all time.
Theo: It is great expansive music, an impeccable melancholy mood in everything they do and it is sobering.
Adam: they are band that have stuck to their vision and there's a lot of conviction in that.

So what is next for Hurts?

Theo: We have some more touring, festivals and a big tour in October and then the second album. We have started thinking about it  - it is all we can do it at the minute as we haven't got time. We've got to get our heads around where we go from here as we're in a very different place and state of mind from when we wrote the first album.
Adam. But we have more things to think about and write about now. The first album the only thing we had to write about was our misery whereas now we've got a lifetime of experiences.