The Candyskins, who have been around the traps for five or six years now, have a new record label, a new single and album out, and are on a comprehensive tour of the pub and clubs circuit to make sure you know about them. A five piece guitar-based outfit, The Candyskins are combining strong songwriting, a professional approach, and heaps of energy to make an assault on the indie circuit. I caught up with the band at the Alleycat in Reading to chew the fat with bassist Karl Shale and guitarist Nick Burton.

What's this tour all about?

Nick Burton: The single was out on the 27th of January, and we're doing a tour around those places in Britain that you have to play to reach the people — all the little pubs, clubs, and universities.

Karl Shale: They're called 'the toilets', but they're not anymore, they're more upgraded than they were like four years ago. On the whole, they're pretty smart venues now.

NB: Anyway, it's the smaller places that I like better than the bigger places, because it's more sweaty, and you're down there with the people.

So the Wembley arena is off the itinerary this time around?

KS: The gigs we're playing on this tour are a mix between the small and the smaller. But then that doesn't change our approach, if you're playing for 10 people or 1,000 people, it's the same thing.

NB: There's no such thing as a small gig, each one is as important as the next. If you're playing a small town, that might be the only place that they've got to go and see a band, and it may not hold 1,000 people, but it's their venue and it's their place where they see live music.

What about your gear — is there any choice, venue to venue, as to what goes on stage and what's left in the van?

NB: No, we use the same gear, and it's the same shoddy falling apart gear that we bought years ago — it's falling apart as we speak.

KS: It's true, our gear is on its last legs...

NB:... and held together with sellotape most of the time.

I noticed that you're not blowing yourselves away with 'killerwatts' of backline.

KS: That's the mistake a lot of bands make, they think they need big amps. You don't need big amps; it's who's playing the guitar that matters.

NB: I used to take more stuff out than I do now, then I realised that I was, firstly, making more work for myself when it came to setting and packing up, and secondly, I really didn't need it. It's just massaging the ego, having all these hundreds of amps all the time.

You were on the Geffen label and now you're not — what happened?

KS: They were good to start with, but then it petered out. If you're not a priority, then it's a bit hopeless.

NB: We were a very small fish in a very big pond down at Geffen. They wanted you to sell a million records, and it's a hard thing to do on your first album, to fulfil those expectations. All you really want to do is play as much as you can. Saying that, we found that in the time after getting the Geffen deal, we began to get a bit lazy, we hadn't played as many gigs as we should have done, and we hadn't built up a fan base in England like we should have done. So we spent the next two years trying to rectify all the mistakes we'd made, and spent all of those two years trying to play as much as we could, building up a big fan base, because they're the people who are going to buy your records, and they're the people who get you where you want to go in the end.

Who are you with now?

NB: Ultimate, a little indie label in London.

KS: They've got Senser, Lodestar, plus the Planet Dog subsidiary. They're pretty cool, a good label.

NB: We found a company in Ultimate who really liked the band and that's enough for us. You can deal with loads of accountants, and lawyers who aren't necessarily music lovers, but with Ultimate, we found a company of people who are behind the band in everything we do, which is great.

KS: We're the Pulp of '97!

The Candyskins new CD release, Sunday Morning Fever, is out now on Ultimate.