After forming in 2009, the Heartbreaks traded in their lives of ice-cream and ‘floating’ around Morecambe to make it big in the rest of the world. An exciting, moving alternative/ indie-rock background has helped the band through an album, an EP and 7 singles so far, culminating towards the upcoming ‘We May Yet Stand A Chance’, due out in May. We popped along to speak to The Heartbreaks to find out what they’ve been up to and what’s coming next…

Apparently, prior to forming the band, two of you worked as ice-cream men. How did you make the transition into music?

It’s true. You know, the ice-cream industry is a cruel and shallow money trench. We made the transition into music as we felt it was time we earned less.

‘Hey, Hey Lover’ has only had good reviews on iTunes so far. Apart from the album what can we expect from you in the near future?

God bless our mams… Oh, who can really say? We’d like to do a Christmas EP. That’d be something to tick off the list. Other than that, it’s to the toppermost of the poppermost or back to the icecream, I guess.

NME compared some of your early stuff to The Smiths and Manic Street Preachers. Who would you say you draw inspiration from?

The Bunnymen, The Attractions, The E-Street Band… All the big ones. It’s funny, we hadn’t really listened to the Manics until we worked with Dave, who produced this record as well as the majority of their stuff. I can see the comparison now though… A friend of ours described it as “the grandiose fuck-you romance of the well-read working class”. I like that. I’m probably going to pretend that I thought of it in future interviews.

Your new album ‘We May Yet Stand A Chance’ is due out in May. Any hints on what to expect?

I think, with this album, we wanted to create a statement in terms of sound and content. We wanted to create something new, majestic and, in short, not normal. We wanted to create something that lasts… Hopefully we’ve done that. A lot of it is very different to stuff that we’ve done before. It feels like a natural transition though, rather than a sudden ‘change of direction’… We’re immensely proud of it.

Back in 2011 you said that you thought pop music was “quite detached and synthetic”. What’s your stance on current up and coming music? 

Well, it’s even worse, isn’t it? The chart stuff I mean. Of course, there are artists I like, such as Chlöe Howl, Florrie, Haim… The Beyonce album was, I thought, fantastic. And, Lorde. I love Lorde. But the majority of chart stuff? No, thank you… My favourite song at the moment is Seasons (Waiting On You) by Future Islands. They were magnificent on Letterman.

You’ve got 11 upcoming concerts up and down the country. Where is your favourite place to play and why?

Nottingham is always fun. And Sheffield. It always has been and always will be Manchester though. We used to live there. It’s where we played our first ever gigs. It feels like home.

Were you made up with recent statement made by Steve Lamaq about the band?

About resigning if our next single isn’t play-listed? Of course. He’s a beautiful guy and a DJ with gravitas in a world of froth. I’ll feel terrible when he loses his job.

In 2011 you supported Morrissey and Hurts. What was that like, and who – if anyone – would you like to go on tour with in the future?

Morrissey was a real trip because it was Morrissey, you know? Fucking Morrissey. To my knowledge, we’re the last band to have supported him too, which either means we’re irreplaceable or enough to put a man off for life… If we could tour with anyone it’d probably be Diana Ross. For the sequins.

Would you be interested in playing any festivals any time soon? If so, which?

I kind of hate all festivals apart from Fuji Rock in Japan. So that one, I guess. We played Cockrock in Cumbria a few years ago and that was quite fun. It’s up in the hills and we went completely feral, running around naked and stuff. It was like Lord of the Flies.

What would you like to come out of 2014 for the band ideally?

Ideally? Mass communication. And also to meet Paul McCartney.

Cheers!