Evans The Death

Green Door Store, Trafalgar Arches, Brighton, Sunday, July 26

“I DON’T know how The Fall has done it for so long. You need a strong core to a band or you’re a bit b******ed.”

Since the release of their self-titled 2012 debut indie-rockers Evans The Death have undergone some serious upheaval – with only vocalist Katherine Whitaker and brother guitarists Dan and Olly Moss remaining out of the original album line-up.

“From the original band there is only me and Dan,” says Whitaker the same day the band were heading out to see old tourmates Let’s Wrestle’s final gig.

“We keep saying it will be like the Sugababes – by the third album the whole line-up will be different.”

Upheavals, both personal and in the line-up, characterised the recording of their second album Expect Delays, which Whitaker admits very nearly didn’t happen.

“In the end it was quite a lot of kerfuffle,” she says. “We recorded the album in two halves, at the beginning of the year and the end. There was a temptation to do two EPs, or not do it at all!

“We are really happy with this album – the sound is changing.”

Certainly the resulting album, which was produced by Rory Atwell, is much more melodic than their raw indiepop debut, although Whitaker’s remarkable vocals are still very much to the fore.

Singles Sledgehammer and Enabler have earned critical acclaim, with BBC 6Music’s Shaun Keaveny making the latter his record of the week on its release earlier this year.

Underlying many of the songs is a certain amount of frustration – most obviously on closing track Don’t Laugh At My Angry Face and on Idiot Button where in the chorus Whitaker repeatedly sings: “I’m an idiot for trying”.

Part of it reflects the experiences of young people today – where they can end up leaving university tens of thousands in debt with little hope of a job at the end.

And part of it refers to where the band found themselves.

“We were in a horrible place,” says Whitaker. “We were totally broke, things were going to s***, it was nice to be able to write lyrics that worked along that.

“A lot came from feeling pretty hopeless – we wanted to make it work so much, and it is really hard when things don’t go to plan.”

Possibly the moment when the band hit rock bottom was when the then four-piece went to play Barcelona’s Primavera Festival in 2013.

“It was like the trip from hell,” remembers Whitaker.

“I got so drunk at Barcelona I don’t remember being on stage. It was really embarrassing – they were so good to us with free food and booze. Normally when we play gigs, even with nice promoters, we don’t get given bottles of premium spirits for free. I have learned never to do that again.”

Following the show a tired and emotional Whitaker lost her passport, while the boys in the band fell out on the way to a second show in Amsterdam.

What’s worse is excerpts from the Primavera show are available to view on YouTube.

“I really envy the people in the 1970s – they were falling off the stage and no-one put it on YouTube,” says Whitaker. “I always forget anybody can be filming us when we’re playing – you can sing badly or do something a bit stupid and it will be on the internet forever.”

The change came after the band went back into the studio, recruiting new drummer James Burkitt and expanding back to a five-piece with Daniel Raphael on bass.

“We are writing stuff for our third album in the rehearsal studio,” says Whitaker. “One person will bring in a song and we will all work on it as a five-piece. I think the next album will be a progression.”

She laughs when she hears the Drowned In Sound description of her band as “preposterously young and eternally drunk” but thinks things have changed.

“We’re not quite as young as when the first album came out,” she says. “A band stops you getting a proper job – you never feel like a grown up.

“With Daniel the dynamic has changed – he’s a calming influence on us.”

Support from Porridge Radio And The Cosmic Sadness and The Art Club.

Doors 7pm, free. Visit www.thegreendoorstore.co.uk