Futureheads at Glastonbury

4:50pm Thursday 3rd July 2008

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BACKSTAGE at Glastonbury. Paparazzi gather by a gateway for a snap of one of Bob Geldof's fame-hungry daughters.

Lily Allen, never one to court publicity, parades around in a dinosaur suit.

Never has it been so easy to be so famous. But on the other side of the exclusive' compound, one of the country's less ostentatious bands prepare for their performance on the John Peel stage. Sunderland's The Futureheads arrive after a year of intense touring across the world.

Recent sell-out shows in New York prove their hard-sell approach is paying dividends. "We had three gigs and seven radio stations in three days, we only had two hours to look around," says bassist and vocalist Jaff. The Futureheads' new album, This Is Not The World, is not a complete departure from the first two, although more playful production gives it a more radiofriendly appeal.

These songs crafted in the North- East are gaining popularity throughout the world. "I think we are quite a personable band," Jaff says, searching for the reason behind the band's popularity. "It's a bit like Bruce Springsteen, he is popular because people can relate to him.

"We are just four lads from Sunderland having a laugh and playing music. We still like the same things as we always did. Just because I'm in a band doesn't mean I'm going to start taking cocaine and shagging loads of birds."

Formed in 2000, it took the band four years to release their first album.

"We did three years of gigging before we even knew what we were about,"

says Jaff. "That is one of the good things about being a band in the North-East, that you're away from the industry. Some London bands think they are big men because they get signed up after six months - they're not."

The band faced their biggest challenge in September 2006 when they were dropped from Warner Bros-owned label 679 after their second album, News and Tributes, sold what was deemed to be a disappointing 32,000 copies.

The new album is self-released, allowing the band to pocket around £4 an album, compared to the 80p payout with 679. "I think bands should make their own money, they shouldn't have to live off charity from their labels," Jaff says. "I think that is the problem, there is too much dependency on labels, and too much money just handed out to bands."