As a little Christmas gift from us to you, we thought we'd catch up with one of DiS' most beloved bands. Despite a seven year gap since their debut album and people calling it the Chinese Democracy of Brit-rock, My Vitriol confirm they have a new album and it's very likely to be released in 2009...

You released 'Finelines' back in 2001 which must seem forever ago, you then toured it and went on hiatus, what did you do in the time out?

After the release of Between the Lines and about 3 years of constant touring I think we were all burned out, and a little disillusioned with the music industry. We had achieved far more than I thought we ever would, but I wasn't sure I wanted to do it anymore. So we called a hiatus, as I felt that it wouldn't be right to do something unless your heart was in it 100%.

What ended the hiatus?

Over the years I had been writing more material for MV with the idea of putting it out if it all felt right. About 3 years on, it got to a point were I think we were all aching to get back out there and play a show. I think I will always make music, but it was a case for us to decide at that point, whether or not it would be on the public stage, I guess.

For those that didn't know, you've been playing live and selling out venues like Koko and your sets at Offset and Download certainly reminded people you still exist - how did it feel playing those shows?

It was incredible really, to see that people still appreciated what we did in such a number. To go away for so long and still have similar sized crowds show up, was very touching. The music industry can be very fickle, so it gave us hope that there were people out there that still supported us. I guess it felt like the hard work over those years, that pushed us to the brink, was maybe worthwhile after all.

How was the tour you played toward the end of the year?

This was a 'fanclub' tour... we played the most requested towns on our myspace 'demands' with minimal advertising, to trial out some new material. The sets were pretty much half new material, with certain tracks having never been played live before. Road testing new stuff can really sort things out! It was great to play these tracks to enthusiastic, smaller sold out audiences, as they would be somewhat more forgiving of the inevitable fuck ups... haha.

Earlier in 2008, Ravi told ThrashHits that you're “planning on releasing a double-album later this year” which I'm now guessing might be due in 2009, how likely is that looking?

Obviously Raz [Editor of ThrashHits] is trying to make me work pretty hard haha. Well we have well over 30 tracks and what we're going to do with it is yet to be officially announced. Things in the music industry keep changing, which really doesn't help. We had been in talks with Pinnacle about eventually releasing the new material through our own imprint, but they went bust! I guess, momentum is pretty hard to build up but, it's all a lot easier once it's started going, so we'll see...the false starts are pretty frustrating.

You've obviously taken your time to follow-up your debut, for various reasons but do you feel part of that is that as an artist, you get to spend twenty years or so living, in preparation to release your debut album and most acts seemingly then have 6 weeks after touring the world to write, record and release your follow-up... do you feel you needed the time to ensure you could make something significant, rather than, like most acts, just rushing something out so that you don't lose the 'new band buzz'?

I agree with you. I think a lot of artists are forced to release a record more to a record companies fiscal calendar, rather than for the music itself. And I guess the current m.o. of the music industry is really showing this by the high turnover rate with new artists. Record companies push for a release as they are aware that sales are almost purely driven by marketing more than by content. But a bad record is a bad record, and with all the options out there, I don't think the media, audiences or record companies are so forgiving as perhaps they used to be either. It took the Cure and Depeche about 5 records before they got to Disintegration and Violator, and I wonder if that would happen anymore. So it's a game of much higher stakes.

To me, as I've always said, the 'commercial momentum' comes second. I personally never really cared how long it took my favourite author or painter to come out with their next book or painting.

Do you have a rough outline of your plans for 2009 that you could share with us?

As it currently stands, we will be touring Europe in Feb. Belgium, Lux, France, and Spain. And returning to do a tour of the UK in March along with a release, with the album to follow later in the year.