Fresh from releasing their second studio album The Wages Of Fear last month, Brits and Piece’s Alexa caught up with one half of the intelligent and bitter-sweet rock/pop quartet, Tellison, on the last leg of their UK tour.  

Okay so if you could start by giving a little introduction to yourselves
Peter: Hi I’m peter and I play guitar in the band Tellison.
Stephen: I am Stephen and I play the guitar and sing in the band Tellison.

How did Tellison as a band start?
S: In it’s ‘real incarnation’ I stole Peter from another band, and made Andy (bassist) start playing the bass guitar which he had never wanted to do in his life. Henry (drummer) and I had already been messing around in bands for a while together, so we became a band and went on tour in 2005 with Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly. 

What number show is this and how has the tour been so far?
P: I think we’ve been out since the 11th (June)..
S: I’m pretty sure this is our 17th show, in a row.
P: We did have a sweet day off planned in the middle of the tour but another show got booked.
S: We thought “Well, who needs a day off?”

You guys must be absolutely knackered..
S: It’s the sleeping that freaks me out. I’ve started dreaming about duvets because I’ve been sleeping in a sleeping bag for so long.

This is the tour to promote the new album. Are you happy with the reaction so far?
P: In general it’s been really good although there’s been a couple of stinkers out there.
S: You get quite a weird view point before you play a show because you just have the internet to go by. We were a little nervous at the start of the tour that people wouldn’t show up, but thankfully it’s been surprisingly good! I’m pretty pleased.
P: I think we got really lucky actually because the record got leaked about a month before the tour. We were like “Wow that really sucks.” and it meant that we were basically forced to put it up online for a couple weeks before the tour started, but the first show we did there were people singing along.
S: In a weird way it was a blessing in disguise.
P: And no-one’s told us that they don’t like it to our faces, yet. Maybe tonight’s the night!
S: Maybe that’s your next question “Why is it so bad?!”. It did take us quite a while to feel comfortable with it, which meant lots of back and forth to studios to change little things. But I’m psyched by it, I think it’s good. 

Do you have any favourite songs from the record?
P: It changes every show we play. Sometimes some songs go better than others when we play them, but I’ve enjoyed singing quite a lot on this tour.
S: I’m really enjoying watching you sing. I like watching you dance around and looking fondly at the back of your head.
P: I think the first single Say Silence is probably my favourite.
S: I like the start and the end of the record. Subject matter wise, the first track appeals to me because I was worried I couldn’t right songs anymore, so I wrote a song about it and it came out quite nicely. Then the last track is one of those songs I wrote in a practice room on my own and thought “This will never get recorded.” but somehow I convinced the rest of the band that it was going to be good for us to record it.

This question is mainly for me, but in regards to your song “Freud links the teeth and the heart”, is that true?
S: It’s more a corruption.. I chose to do a bunch of stuff about psychoanalysis and the unconscious as I’d finished my degree in english literature. I was reading the interpretation of dreams and it would seem dreams about your teeth falling out means certain things, and from that there are lots of urban myths that say if you have a dream about your teeth it means you’re sexually worried etc. 

So what’s next for Tellison over the coming year?
P: We’ve got some shows later on in the month
S: A duvet! As soon as possible.
P: We’re actually just gonna snuggle down for a month or two. Then hopefully another tour in October time and then, fingers crossed, Europe, and with a lot of luck, maybe North America. 

Have you started writing any new songs for the next record?
P: I started today.
S: I was listening to him do it! It sounds good, I like it already. It’s immediately my favourite. I’ve got a few songs - I’m going to run home to my parents house after this tour because I like writing there, and for the duvet.

If you found out a celebrity or artist had Tellison on their iPod, who would you most like it to be?
P: That’s a really good question. I heard a rumour that Marina from Marina and The Diamonds had Tellison on her iPod. Then I found out it was fake and was a little crushed.
S: That was real! It was in a newspaper. I have a celebrity crush on a girl called Lizzy Caplan (Janice, Mean Girls). She’s in a TV show called Party Down, which was cancelled after two series but it was so amazing! If you take one thing from today, fuck the music and watch Party Down. 
P: I reckon it would be cool if it was on Danny DeVito’s iPod. Apparently he’s wild.
S: Also some young british people like Rupert Grint. I think he’s kinda cool.
A: I’ve previously had Barack Obama as an answer, and also Rihanna.
P: We’ve already got those two.
S: They’re close personal friends.

Finally, if there was a song that you guys wish you had written what would it be?
S: I do like the entire Midnight Organ Fight by Frightened Rabbit, it’s just stunning.
A: You are the second person to have said that!
S: I also really like the Bob Dylan song ‘Boots of Spanish Leather’. It’s really sad but it’s just lovely. I think it’s great, and I could imagine him finishing writing it and thinking “This is probably going to be pretty good for the next 60 years.” 
P: Hmm this is too hard. 
S: It’s hard because obviously there is massive songs in the public domain which, financially, would have been great to have written! But then there are songs that just connect with you.
P: In my more introspective moments I imagine myself singing Abba songs. 
S: You do do that in real life as well, in the bathroom screaming Mamma Mia. 

The infectious The Wages Of Fear is out now and available on iTunes. Definitely an essential record for your iPod this summer.