BUCKS New Uni was the venue for five-piece Brother and Bones, who entertained a lively crowd with their incredible blend of rock.

Singer Rich Thomas, bassist Si Robinson, guitarist James Willard, Drummer Yiannis Sachinis and percussionist Robin Howell-Sprent have just finished their 25 date tour, and are set to embark on a European tour next year. Here the band speak to Victoria MacFarlaine about playing live on Radio 2, their new EP and plans for the future.

Describe your sound to anyone who hasn’t heard you.

Rich: I think every band finds it hard to put their sound down on paper, but live there is a lot of drums. It’s pretty heavy and quite big, there is acoustic guitar and electric guitar, it’s pretty much a rock band but with tribal drums element. Recorded it’s slightly different… a little more…. trained! (laughs) Maybe folk elements come through - the song elements, more on record. That’s how I’d sum it up in two words! (laughs).

What’s your favourite song you like to play live?

Yiannis: I’d say Revolutions for me. It starts off quite pacy and then half time it’s my kind of rock out bit. I’m allowed to hit the cymbals as hard as a can!

James: It does vary from tour to tour. Some songs are standout songs, you can see people really react well to x or y.

Yiannis: The one the crowd responds to most is the one that I will also respond to most. You end up feeding off the crowd. If they are into it - you’ll be into it.

Do you get nervous ahead of a gig?

Rich: We just come off the back of doing 25 shows. It’s our bread and butter. We are used to doing that. There are a few gigs where it is almost a nervous anticipation more than being nervous. Most people get over that at the start of their musical performance career.

Yiannis: Nerves are good though. When we played Glasgow, seeing my family in the audience - I hoped I wouldn’t mess up!

Your EP ‘To be Alive’ was out at the beginning of November. How is that doing?

Rich: In the context of how we are doing as a band I suppose. We are still doing stuff with blood, sweat and tears. There is no record label behind us or anything at the moment. But we are doing pretty well in the iTunes charts which is great for us. It’s a pat on the back knowing that people are out there listening to it. It’s being well received. We are selling more on the road as well as online too.

James: We also got our first bit of national radio play with the title track, it got played on Dermot O’Leary show on Radio 2 a couple of weeks ago and we are doing a live session for him. He said our name wrong - which was good! (laughs)He called it Brothers and Bones. But he said he really liked it. I called it that for a good few months.

Perhaps you should change it?

Rich: No, we are standing strong! (laughs) It’s been going for three years, we need to stand by it!

Where does the name come from?

There’s lots of cannibalism in St Ives where I’m from. The last gig I did I got so hungry! It’s a really rubbish story. I wrote it in a poem ages ago and took the name.

Where would you like to be this time next year?

James: Malbi. Really rich. (laughs). Much of the same thing. We love being in the studio. We love writing and recording. We just want to pump it up three levels, we’d all be happy with that. We want to do America again. We have a European tour. Bigger and better festivals for next summer too. We want to do an album. We have been having these conversations for a year. Deliberating over it. We have loads and loads of songs, some in a category that’s described as our older songs. This time next year we want it very clear this is our album, this is what we are.

See www.brotherandbones.co.uk