"I get annoyed watching people play who've sat at home and paid too much attention to little details, little technical things that famous drummers do. They've forgotten that the essence of being a drummer is to create a rhythm, to create some kind of power."

I'm sure he does know what a paradiddle is, but New Model Army's Robb Heaton is not a man to argue with. Well over six feet tall and built like the proverbial outside toilet, he epitomises NMA's hard-hitting, uncompromising stance. His drumming is similarly powerful and exciting, certainly among the most ferocious live performers around. It is not without finesse however and he is far from a run of the mill pounder.

"I never wanted to copy anybody — obviously you have your influences but I never set out to actually copy. I wanted to say 'right, I'm a drummer and I'm going to play what I think is right here'. If one day someone comes up and says 'I think you're a really good drummer' then that's great. No one's come up and said I'm crap yet so I must be doing something right."

In fact the whole of New Model Army seem to be doing something right at the moment. Their 'Thunder and Consolation' album revealed a new and unexpected depth to their songwriting and has consequently been met with wider public acclaim than previous offerings. One thing they have not lost though is their fierce commitment and a desire to earn every bit of respect and adulation they relieve.

"It's like what Paul Weller said about being in The Jam — they would release a record and 700,000 people would go out and buy it instantly whether it was good or bad."

Being in a band with as resolutely partisan a following as New Model Army obviously presents the same problem how not to let the impetus slacken in the face of an undemanding audience. Basically how to avoid just preaching to the converted.

"I think the answer" ponders Robb, "is to just get better and better and make sure you deserve everything you get.

"We like to be the underdog and when you're put into the position of not being the underdog the pleasure isn't the same as playing to an crowd who don't know you. I mean, it's nice to have an audience who know every single line of every song, but it's not the same as feeling you've really earned it. It's the challenge of winning over a new audience, which is a hell of a lot harder, but when you've done that, when you've got them behind you, you really feel like you've earned it."

No one would deny that New Model Army's current success has not been duly earned through exhaustive touring and recording. Live, the energy they generate is nothing short of incredible and as the drummer in a three piece band Robb has to bear a good deal of the responsibility for this.

"You have to be energetic when there's ony three of you. I think it's important to use more of your drum kit to make a fuller sound. I don't mean rolling all the time or hitting your cymbals all the time because that gets tiring. But I like using a part of the kit for something that it shouldn't be doing, like the floor tom instead of the hi-hat or using the bass drum on the offbeat and putting a tom tom on the on beat so you get a sort of bouncing effect. I think it's basically a case of setting yourself free and forgetting that drummers have to play in a certain way. Just do some strange things and see what comes out.

"I don't even know what a paradiddle is..."

"That can be difficult, to leap into it if the song is already written and the person who wrote it already has a rhythm in mind. But if you can get to it first, like in a sound check that can be a really good time to work stuff out. You've got a big sound and everything is really exciting."

Talking of big sounds they don't come much bigger than Robb's and he is in no doubt as to where that sound comes from. Does he hit the drums hard?

"Yes. If you're excited about what you're doing then you're going to hit them hard. I know a lot of drummers who don't hit hard and who don't break much of a sweat, they're just enjoying the intricacies of what they're playing and they're not enjoying the song, which is the most important thing. I think it comes back to this thing of making a big noise, you want to be heard."

Despite this rugged individualism Robb has had something of a time honoured musical background.

"Watching 'Top of the Pops', I just watched people playing the drums and then went and played it on a kit we had in school. Someone said to me 'Oh you can play the drums can you?' I said, 'I don't know, I've never done it before!'

"I learnt by watching people play and, like most people who learn like that, gradually developed all the other stuff later. I think in some ways teaching yourself to play is the long way round of doing things. The rudiments of drumming are fairly easy if someone can show you them, but it can be more fun to discover them for yourself.

"Like I was saying about a paradiddle, it's fairly easy to play but you wouldn't necessarily think of doing it on your own. But eventually you'll play something and think 'ahh that sounds interesting... hey listen to this!' 'Yeah that's a paradiddle.' 'Oh... Fair enough'."

There, I told you he knew really.