Dirty Fences: "We'll listen to anything but dubstep"

Dirty Fences have spent the last several years on a non-stop worldwide tour that has taken them from the US and Canada, through South America and Puerto Rico and finally here, to Europe (specifically Sheffield's prestigious Picture House Social) to unveil their newest tracks ahead of the release of second album Goodbye Love.

The shaggy-haired foursome (Max Comaskey on bass and vocals/ Jack Daves on guitar and vocals/ Max Hiersteiner on drums and vocals/ Max Roseglass on guitar/ vocals) met each other at high school in Boston, their hometown, before eventually relocating to Brooklyn and doing stints at grotty clubs. Their fuzzy punk-scrappy skater hybrid has worked well, earning them a reputation as the hardest partying rock'n'roll group around.

I caught up with them for a quick chat before their show.

“It's refreshing to be out of New York. English people can be pretty raucous."

Evening! How is it being in England for your tour?

Max Comaskey: "It's refreshing to be out of New York. English people can be pretty raucous so our live shows here are always great. Looking forward to it."

There's been quite a long gap between your debut Too High to Kross and the new one. How come?

Max Roseglass: "Well, we've been touring relentlessly, travelling all over the place with our shows and I guess we didn't think about properly focusing on a new album. Live is where it's at. But now we're ready again."

Does this album differ much from the last?

MC: "A lot of the songs on this record still have that underlying pop feel to them where it's extremely good for a crowd and the structures are very poppy and upbeat, but with Goodbye Love we went slightly darker with the lyrics. You can sing along, jump around, mosh, all that good stuff but there's also something a little deeper under the surface."

One of the new tracks features Christina Halliday, how did that come about?

MC: "Initially that song was written for her to sing as a solo. She's our good friend and we could definitely envision her singing it, but after a while it evolved and we tweaked the lyrics slightly and it just worked even better as a duet."

You have so many different influences, in terms of music and style. Are there any genres you steer clear of?

MC: "NO. DUBSTEP. Anything else and we'll give it a go."