Elbow Too Busy 'Messing About' to Rehearse, Admits Guy Garvey

With fifth album 'Build A Rocket Boys!' out this week and the group set to embark on their largest ever UK tour next week, you'd expect Elbow to be working with fervour in the practice room to ready themselves for dates including two nights at London's gigantic O2 Arena.

Not so however, according to front man Guy Garvey who confesses that nowadays "there's a lot of messing about."

Contactmusic reports that the group used to be strict on rehearsal times, Garvey telling Absolute Radio that "we used to be really quite fascist about it if someone was 15 minutes late. For a couple of decades there, there'd be an argument if you were late. [Now though] my tour manager says getting us all in one room is like herding cats".

Turning back his attentions to preparations for the forthcoming tour, the vocalist revealed, "I'd say, if I was to be honest, [we'd rehearse] probably about four hours a day max," but he insisted he'd never been happier to be part of Elbow. About the new album he said, "It was my birthday the day before [it came out,] so I spent all day in the pub with my friends, and then woke up on Monday, fifth album out -- it's a nice place to be when you're 37 -- and just spent all day texting the band love and feeling pretty good about myself."

Elbow's 12-date UK tour begins in Glasgow on March 15 and culminates at Dublin's O2 on March 31.

Watch Elbow Perform 'On a Day Like This' Live with the BBC Orchestra