CHVRCHΞS: DIY’s October 2015 cover stars revealed!

Cat’s out the bag: Chvrches are on the cover of DIY’s October 2015 issue!

In our new issue (out Friday 2nd October), we track down a band at the top of their game. Against the odds, they’ve bettered debut ‘The Bones of What You Believe’ with follow-up ‘Every Open Eye’. And it’s not just musically where they’ve stepped up a gear.

Six weeks after coming off the road late last year – having given themselves “a little bit of distance from it all,” says Iain Cook - the band found themselves heading back into the same converted three-bedroom flat where their debut had come to life. This time, however, they had a plan of action.

“It was a sweet spot,” Martin assures, explaining their tactics. Instead of jumping straight into the deep end, they would work on one song a day over the space of two weeks, providing themselves some semblance of structure. “It was about managing the time, first and foremost. From previous projects and the way we did things on the first album, we knew that method worked. We called them all ‘Day One’s and then ‘Day Two’s.” After a fortnight, they’d then have the starting points of ten songs. “The second half of the month would be Day Two on the first batch, followed by the second batch. Over four weeks, you’ve got ten songs that are in really good shape. Some of them you like, some you don’t but none of them are you committed to. It allows for perspective over anything else.”

“And it stops you going too far down the rabbit hole on one idea,” Lauren Mayberry throws in. “You can spend two weeks on one idea and not really get anywhere, and then you’ve lost two weeks.”

“We’d do that on the first album,” Iain explains. “We’d hammer it out until we had got it to its natural conclusion and you just get really burnt out. If things aren’t going as well as they could, you feel so disheartened and you need a few days off to get your head back together again. Doing it this way meant that we could completely bypass that exhaustion and try something fresh that gets you excited again. You carry that energy forward.”

Read the full cover feature in October’s issue of DIY and online from Friday 2nd October at 12pm GMT.