THE Manic Shine have played to the High Wycombe crowds four times - the last was in February when they stormed the stage at Scorpios.

Here lead vocalist and guitarist Ozzie Rodgers, 25, speaks to Victoria Birch about their support from the likes of Kerrang and XFM, and their plans for the summer.

How was the Wycombe crowd?

The crowd were immense, a belter of a show! This was our fourth time playing HW and the crowd seems to get bigger and bigger every time we play.

Was there a particular song that the crowd went mad to?

Our new single Weightless was a big hit, there's a nice big twin guitar solo at the end in the live version which is usually a skirt raiser/pant inflater.

How would you describe your sound?

What people tend to pick out in the sound usually changes from person to person, we've had cross comparisons System Of A Down, Rage Against The Machine and Tool! We like to think of it as Proggy Disco Money Balls. Make of that what you will.

You have had some incredible support from the likes of Kerrang, XFM and BBC.

Tell us more about that.

Our new single Weightless has been released as of Jan 13 along with debut album 'Let Go Or Be Dragged' and has been doing really well, we've had almost 14,000 hits on Youtube and it's had quite a few spins on BBC Intro and XFM which is amazing. Kerrang! placed it in their top ten new ear melting tunes and the reviews of the album have been ecstatic which is quite humbling - sometimes it's hard to know what they'll make of it!

Do you have a day job, or is your role in the band full time? If so, what is it?

I teach guitar on the side but other than that the band is what I do! The other lads work for charities as their side jobs.

Where do you take inspiration for your music?

Honestly, pretty much anything. Literally anything that sounds cool to us - sometimes I'll hear something in a pop tune, it could be one rhythm in a vocal or a shaker etc. and I'll go 'That's a sweet idea' and then try and recreate something similar. We don't leave anything off the table. That being said, we tend to have a basic 'musical palette' to work with and the ideas get fed through that and come out the other side sounding....darker/heavier. What music did you grow up listening to?

My father had an enormous record collection and took it upon himself to school me in everything from Van Morrison to Hendrix, The Doors to Santana, Rolling Stones to Depeche Mode to ..... how much time you got?! Mainly classic rock and blues though - they're pretty much the go to genres to get inspired to play guitar - and that's all I've wanted to do ever since I heard Voodoo Chile...

What’s your plan for The Manic Shine?

We've got some exciting stuff coming in the next few months - we have our first headline tour of Germany in April, followed by another tour in Scotland in June and then festivals through the summer including VolksFest and more to be announced. We're also writing like mad men at the moment so a new release later this year could well be on the cards too.

What’s your ultimate dream for the band?

To play Wembley Stadium and then having finished the show, to release an enormous air ballon that travels into the sky, only to be caught by a private jet, that hoists us into the air to fly away, blowing kisses at the thousands of female fans. Just like Batman. Or something like that.

See: www.themanicshine.com www.facebook.com/themanicshine www.twitter.com/themanichshine