Elbow set to round off another glorious year

“We’ve always felt like the bridesmaids,” laughs Pete, considering Elbow’s long history of flirting with the mainstream but never quite cracking it.

Then, in 2008, all the years of uphill struggle finally came to an end when they took home the Mercury Music Prize for the universally acclaimed Seldom Seen Kid.

Along with the band’s anthem, One Day Like This, it wasn’t long before the band found themselves headlining festivals and selling out arenas.

“I remember around the time of our third album Leaders of the Free World,” says Pete. “I was walking down the street and a fan came up to me and said ‘when’s your next album out?’ It had been out for six weeks.”

“That was really frustrating because we’d been working for years on this album and no one knew about it.”

But after their Mercury win that all changed. The world stood up and paid attention.

“Writing our latest album (Build A Rocket Boys) was a new experience for us,” says Pete.”

“Following The Seldom Seen Kid, if we’d have actually thought about it we’d have been saying ‘now this is like we’re doing our second album’ – but it wasn’t.”

He continues: “For the first time in our career, we knew that people would want to hear it, buy it and be interested and that just made the whole process a lot more relaxed.”

So with a number one album under their belts, a string of victorious festival appearances and having penned the brilliant First Steps to soundtrack the Olympic Games, what can fans expect from Elbow’s upcoming UK arena tour?

Pete says: “We’re rounding up the whole Build A Rocket Boys album and this one’s going to be similar to the last arena tour with bringing the crowd in and making the room feel smaller and more intimate, but there will be new lights, new visuals and new ideas.”

“We’re going to look back into the back catalogue a little bit more and fish out some songs that we’ve not played for a while. But it should just be a couple of hours of fun and partying every night.”

Pete adds: “It’s a nice way of rounding off the album and the year.”

And they’ll never be bridesmaids again.

- To read this interview in FULL, with more info on Elbow’s soundtrack to the London 2012 Olympic Games and progress on their next album, head to www.worksopguardian.co.uk.

Elbow play Capital FM Arena on Monday 26th November.

Tickets are £29.50 and are available by visiting www.capitalfmarena.com or by calling 08444 124 624.