Gavin Butler, vocalist with Welsh fun-loving rockers, The Blackout, who played Newcastle’s 02 Academy earlier this month, tells Matt Westcott about their positive philosophy on life. Their latest album, Start the Party, is out now

WHAT makes you think that we all need cheering up in our lives?

The recession, job losses, welfare cuts, the weather, norovirus, East- Enders. And it’s January – the most dreary month of the year.

Your philosophy seems to be a simple one: enjoy it while you can. Not so much glass half full as glass overflowing, would that be fair to say?

Very fair. We’ve always tried to carry a positive mental attitude, even when we’re down. I think it’s because where we’re from.The glass is never half-empty cos it’s always p****** down.

It’s not a sound I expected to hear coming out of Merthyr Tydfil.

There’s a very definite US lilt to the music. Are you influenced by the likes of Limp Bizkit etc?

We grew up listening to American bands. When we were aged 16 to 18 Nu Metal was kicking off in a big way, rock music was all over the charts and bands like Limp Bizkit were at the forefront. Since then a lot of people pretend they didn’t like it, but with all those record sales some of them must have.

We’ve never thought of NuMetal as an ugly word and all those American bands influenced most of the best UK bands at the moment.

What is really cool to see now, however, is that kids are being influenced by these new UK bands which is great.

How did the two vocalists routine come about? What do you think it adds to the band?

Basically, we’re too lazy to do a full time band member’s job. Having two of us means that we can cruise through.

In all seriousness, I think what both Sean and I bring to the table with regard to vocals is unique to each of us, to the point where we almost complement each other.

Start the Party nails its colours to the mast pretty early on, was that a very deliberate move on your part?

At first, no. We came back from an amazing tour and decided to start writing straight away.

Then we noticed that everything we were writing was tinged with this party vibe that I’m guessing was still with us from the tour.

We then decided to roll with it.

How does it differ from your previous album?

Nearly every album we’ve done has been different to the last. We never really sit down and say, ‘this doesn’t sound like a Blackout song’.

I suppose this is the most, in the nicest possible way, immature record we’ve done. It’s just about enjoying being yourself and what you do, which is something I think most people only become comfortable with the older they get.

Despite the success you have already had, do you see 2013 as a breakthrough year?

I’ve always said that if the band is still together either making or playing music then it has been a successful year. If I could continue to make music for the rest of my life, I’d be a happy man. That said, who would not want to play Wembley?