Barry Hyde of Sunderland’s Futureheads talks to Andy Welch about the band’s refusal to be written off as artists.

"IT’S time to wake up. It’s time to change. Let’s get it started. I feel like there’s so much to rearrange.’’ So went the opening lines of The Futureheads’ 2008 hit single The Beginning Of The Twist. The song was something of a comeback for the Sunderland quartet, and having been through what they had, it was the perfect summary of both where they’d been, and where they were going.

Today, of course, guitarist frontman Barry Hyde is in chipper mood. ‘‘We’ve got a rehearsal later, which I can’t wait for,’’ he beams, adding: ‘‘And then I’ve got to sign 500 copies of the album, plus my motherand- father-in-law are coming to stay.

It’s a big day.’’ It hasn’t always been a happy tale as far as The Futureheads are concerned, however.

After releasing their highlyregarded debut in 2004, the band, along with the likes of Bloc Party and Franz Ferdinand, brought angular, punky pop-rock to the mainstream at the same time as pleasing critics.

By the time of the second album, though, things weren’t quite so rosy, and, after being left to their own devices to make News And Tributes in 2006, fell out with their record label, Warner Music.

‘‘It was great that we weren’t checked up on – you don’t want to feel like you’ve got a boss when you’re a musician – but then we were dropped because we gave them a record they weren’t expecting,’’ he says.

‘‘We just wanted to progress as musicians, and secondly as a band, but they weren’t happy with that.

What labels need to remember is that this is the music business, not business music. Listen to the radio and you will hear a lot of business music. Some of it works, some of it’s great, but we want to be musicians.

‘‘We were very unhappy with them,’’ says Hyde, still clearly bitter about the whole experience. ‘‘We wanted out. We were going to get out of the deal, anyway, so it suited us all.

‘‘One of the bosses came up to see me around that time, asking if I’d got any new songs, and I’d already written Beginning Of The Twist, but I lied and said I had writer’s block.”

There was a lengthy legal process, but the end result was the band were free, so after dusting themselves down and coming up with a new album’s worth of material, they released This Is Not The World on their own label, Nul Records.

‘‘We got Twist A-listed on the radio – which was something they couldn’t manage with Hounds Of Love,’’ he says, referring to their breakthrough Kate Bush cover.

The forthcoming album, The Chaos ,will also be released on Nul Records.

‘‘There are six of us with stakes,’’ he explains. ‘‘The four of us in the band and our two managers, who we’ve been with for years. It’s a new business model, it’s totally egalitarian and we all have equal shares and profits from it.

‘‘It’s amazing not to have that feeling that you’re getting shafted.

Knowing that your label earns three times more than you is not a good feeling, no matter who you are.

‘‘We’ve transcended all of that, and we can be strong and ready for anything.’’ The Futureheads now find themselves flying the flag for a host of other Sunderland-based bands – Field Music, Frankie & The Heartstrings and BEAK, among others – all independently minded and seemingly detached from what’s happening elsewhere.

‘‘We’ve never had a shortage of bands here – there was a shortage of venues and fans maybe – but there’s something about Sunderland bands,’’ he says proudly. ‘‘It’s a good time at the minute, because we’ve got a new band coming through, Frankie & The Heartstrings. We’ve been around ages now, but they’re new and are going to be taking it around the world.’’ Touring is also where the band get their motivation from. Hyde ‘‘absolutely loves’’ playing live, and after only playing sporadic shows last year – the band’s drummer Dave, Barry’s little brother, had a baby last year which curtailed touring plans – he’s itching to get back on the road.

‘‘What I find is that unless you go touring, you forget how good you can be. As much fun as one-off shows are, you don’t get as good as you do when you’re doing three gigs in a row for the duration of a tour – that’s when it clicks. It’s ridiculous how effortless it can become, and you have this almost psychic connection within the band.

‘‘We just plug in, and play till we sweat. Someone needs to do that. We started off rehearsing in a room in Sunderland. We got better as a band and started playing gigs. Then our room turned into a town, a town into a region, a region into a country and then we released an album that took us around the world. It’s all about evolving together, and letting things take you as far as they can,’’ he continues.

"If you’re having fun, the negative things that crop up become like flies bouncing off a windscreen when you’re driving on a motorway. Fall back in love with your bandmates each time you make a record and you’ll be just fine."

■ The Futureheads release fourth album, The Chaos, on Monday. Tour dates: May 1, Empire, Middlesbrough. £8. Ticketweb.co.uk thefutureheads.co.uk