Alex and Tom White have been playing music together since they were children. Well, they are brothers, that helps. This closeness surely puts some light on the astonishing maturity of Holes in the Wall, a record that explodes the borders of brit-pop to venture in some beautiful psychedelic trips. A certainty that is to check on the Route du Rock festival. Rock mag: Your last concert in Paris on May 29th was full of technical problems (two power cuts!). Is it something hard to deal with when you’re on stage? Alex: When things like this happen it is a real nightmare. Tom: We had to do with... Alex: But the end of the show was quite wild! Tom: Actually this is part of our style. We improvise, we build something new every night. The songs we play are not always the same, sometimes the show is crappy, sometimes it is really good. Alex: We've got a set list but if we feel like playing something else, we do. The trick is to be able to feel the show, to feel the audience. If people look a bit tired, we play something slower before playing punchier stuff. It is something hard to foresee before a concert... Rock mag: Let’s go back to the birth of the band. You have always been playing together, haven’t you? Tom: The band is Alex and I. It’s always been like this. We had quite a few different names. The Electric Soft Parade is the last one. The album embodies what we’ve been doing over the last years. Now we have a much more precise idea of the music we want to write and play and it is on the road that we are developing it. On stage there are a keyboard player and a bass player with us but we are only working together for the tour, that’s it. Rock mag: Who learned music first? Tom: Alex began playing the piano when he was 6, and I did when I was 7. Alex: We began with classical music and then we just played any instruments we could find. Playing together was the easiest thing to do. There were two people in the house learning music with the same passion. I can’t even remember a time when we didn’t play together. It was so obvious and natural. We don’t have any brothers or sisters. But our dad plays the piano. Rock mag: Your music is more diverse and more “technical” than almost any other British bands. Is it something you’re proud to claim? Alex: When you write music, you need to be honest with yourself. Lately, I read an interview with Noel Gallagher who explained that their new record (Heathen Chemistry) was “typical Oasis”. What’s the point in making a record that sounds like a parody of your older stuff? I think there are many bands that make music thinking more about what’s gonna chart than about what they really want to do. I prefer bands like Radiohead with the guys asking themselves questions, thinking about why they make music together and then they record Kid A and Amnesiac. They not scared to change. Rock mag: So no typical ESP? Alex: Exactly. The next record is gonna be very different from Holes in the Wall in terms of style and production. We’ll move on. Maybe people won’t understand but nevermind! We never thought people would like the first one! As long as we're making the music we love, music that sounds like us, we’ll be happy. If you’re not proud of your own music, even success won’t make you happy. Rock mag: Do you feel different from bands like Travis or Stereophonics? Alex: Of course we do. I think we have something american in our sound. When you hear a Stereophonics song, you automatically know who you are listening to... Tom: It is foreseeable. It is the contrary of bands like The Flaming Lips where only the voice is the same. You have to be in a place where your audience has not arrived yet, you have to analyze to make your music better. Rock mag: What are your favourite recent records? Tom: The new Flaming Lips record. Alex: Weezer. Tom: We like new bands and old bands as well. But we’re not like Oasis who say they listen to Black Rebel Motorcycle Club to look cool!