Futureheads Test Out Political Waters on 'The Chaos'

Sunderland, England's post-punk four-piece the Futureheads release their first new album in two years, 'The Chaos,' next Tuesday, June 1, marking one of the band's most reflective efforts to date. The album, the band's fourth, represents a year of work, and guitarist Ross Millard explains to Spinner that the band wanted to responsibly -- and positively -- speak about what their Northern British town has been going through.

"You've got to be very careful as a musician when you sort of introduce politics in your music because it's quite easy to sit there and go, 'Oh, I'll do this for a living. I can carry on playing the guitar and getting by in the midst of all this madness,'" he says. "But there's a certain responsibility to [address] what's going on. The part of England that we're from has been famously quite heavily hit. This album, certainly some of the songs on it are trying to be positive in the face of that."

Among the songs that make up 'The Chaos' are the title track, 'I Can Do That' and 'Jupiter,' which has harmonies that aren't unlike a classic British group of yore.

"That one begins with this big sort of a cappella section where all four of us are singing different harmonies at the same time. It's kind of a bit Queen and a bit pompous, a little bit operatic almost," he says, laughing. "It's that sort of someone knowing no limitations and no boundaries and being ambitious with whatever they're doing. That's the sort of emphasis of that song and it's also the emphasis of the record: don't get boxed in, don't get trodden down, rally together and be optimistically positive in the face of what might seem like quite a scary or menacing time."

Millard says the band had actually planned the record to also help make the live show a commanding one.

"We really wanted to bring a little bit of showiness almost: the interplaying, the guitar playing and become more intricate," he says. "Bring the chops back, basically."