When Groove Armada released their ‘Best of’ album in 2004, they thought they had reached the end of the road. Now, three years later, they’re back. They’ve just toured Australia and played some absolute rippers, and on May 7th, their new album ‘Soundboy Rock’ hits shelves. Here’s what Tom Findlay, one of the bands founding members, had to say about…

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… The Album: I think it’s the best record we have ever made. We had done the ‘Best Of’ and thought we’d given it all up. We had gotten to the point in our careers where we both said ‘fuck it’—excuse my language—we are just going to go for it this time and not be so precious and worry about what people think. I think it is a bolder and more ballsy record as a result.

… The Shows: I think when you play live, audiences need longer to get used to things. They need emotion and dynamics. You pull things in and out a lot more than you would on a record where you can get into a steadier sort of listen.

Technically the best show we played might have been the one we did in Sydney [last month] at the Centennial Park. It is not being arrogant, but the Pixies were on there and the Pet Shop Boys, but I felt like we, by some distance, were the best band on that day. We just did it—slapped the ass off the place.

… The Band: It took a long way to get to where we have come. You think if you sign a record deal, someone is going to hold your hand and tell you how to do it, but nobody does. They expect you to be the finished article, but when we signed the deal we were just 20 year olds. So we had no idea how to take what we did, which was sample-based, electronic music, and produce it live. Now, I love it. I think we are the best live dance band in the world.

We are not trying to change the world. That is not what we are about, and I’ve never had any illusions of that. We just give people a rollicking good time.

… and Elton John & Liz Hurley: We played a party for Elton John about a year into our career because he loves to get onto artists quite early and sees himself as a godfathery figure. We were all on stage. I just remember I had this keyboard, and it started letting off this fire engine noise. I could not get it off. It went on for like 7 minutes. I don’t know what it was doing. Whilst all the time I could see Liz Hurley standing on the side thinking, ‘he is terrible’.