A SELF-CONFESSED science fiction geek Public Service Broadcasting mainman J Willgoose admits focusing on the space race for the band’s second full-length album was a rewarding experience.

As with the band’s previous work The Race For Space uses archive recordings from the BFI archives to capture the tale of men with the right stuff taking giant leaps for mankind – from the launch of the first satellite Sputnik to America’s successful fight to get the first man on the moon.

It’s a sharpening of focus for the band, who followed up the critically acclaimed debut EP The War Room with the more eclectic sprawl of the BBC-influenced album Inform, Educate, Entertain.

“It was definitely something of a privilege to work on something I have a genuine and passionate interest in,” he says while on tour in the US.

“But it was a pretty hard record to put together. I think having one theme or subject behind the record helps make it more of a journey and lets us create more of a sense of atmosphere rather than just hitting people with a more scattergun approach.”

He admits the rise in interest in events like the solar eclipse and Mars mission was more of a happy coincidence for the album’s release.

“It does have the advantage of making us seem like we plan things really well, but sadly in this case that’s not true!” he says. “I’m just really interested in space and wanted the chance to write an album about it.

“I liked the fact it gave us a licence to explore a bigger, more ambitious and more thoughtful project and also kept us moving forwards in time.”

When it came to finding the raw materials for the album – the sampled speech and sound effects – Willgoose went both to NASA and his original inspiration for starting Public Service Broadcasting – the BFI archive.

“NASA has been wonderfully free and generous with their sharing of their archives,” he says. “I was never worried about finding the material to tell the American stories.

“It was more the Russian side of things that worried me and I had no idea how to get hold of it, who to ask or even where to go to ask them.

“In a stroke of extreme fortune though the BFI had just inherited a whole load of ETV films about the Soviet space programme and we were able to use them. It really was an incredible piece of luck.”

Rather than focus wholly on the new album Willgoose, who is accompanied live by drummer Wrigglesworth, will be looking back through the band’s back catalogue for the live tour.

The Inform, Educate, Entertain tour saw the pair performing alongside banks of television monitors displaying vintage film clips linking into each story.

“Technically the show is always growing and always becoming more of a challenge to produce – especially without going bankrupt,” he says.

“We like to put on the best and most entertaining show that we can.

“It does please me greatly that we’ve managed to get a reputation for being a good live band and one worth going to see.

“We always say it’s not a history lesson, and keeping a show rigidly segmented would run counter to our real objective – which is putting on a good show.

“The setlists are always written with the flow of the music and show in mind rather than trying to stick to any particular era or separate things arbitrarily.”

He’s keeping tightlipped about where Public Service Broadcasting could go next, but he says the band is going down well across the US.

“The reception we’re getting has been reminding me of the shows we did at home in late 2012/early 2013 when things really started to happen, which is a good sign,” he says.

“We played in Portland a couple of days ago and it was one of the best crowds we’ve had over here, if not the best.

“The signs are encouraging, but it’s a very long road – literally and figuratively – to get anywhere in the US!”

Support from Smoke Fairies.

Duncan Hall

Doors 7pm, SOLD OUT. Call 01273 709709 for returns.