Brigade are a four-piece band consisting of Will Simpson (vocals and guitar), James Plant (guitars and vocals), Naoto Hori (bass), and Fim (drums).

The group came together in 2003 and residing in London via Bristol, Suffolk and Japan, they produce music with a mass of melody whilst retaining the huge sound of driving guitars.

Fired into the spotlight following the Made to Wreck EP released in September 2005, they haven’t looked back since, as they build up a strong fan base with support from the biggest players in music journalism.

Will Simpson took time out to talk to music and the success of 2006 for the band.

In an age when everything seems to be classed under the emo genre, Will would like to see British rock bands being given more attention:

    “I don’t think the alternative scene in this country has ever been lacking. There are always good bands out there but sometimes you have to look further to find them.  I’m getting really bored with the whole ‘emo thing’ and a lot of the bands associated with that so I’d like to see some more forward thinking British rock bands given more attention.
    "I’m pleased to see Biffy [Clyro] on the front of Kerrang! and hopefully stuff like that will open the door for more quality alternative music to break through.”

On the topic of Kerrang!, Brigade were described as ‘one of the UK’s most important bands’ last year, and also received a nomination for the magazines best newcomer award in 2006, something that Will was chuffed to pieces about:

    “It was awesome largely because I’ve been reading that magazine since I was young and always hoped one day I’d be in a band that would be nominated. I think it’s a great magazine, and although like a lot of music magazines it can be too caught up with scenes, it does cover a lot of great bands, and I’ve always enjoyed reading it.
    "There’s nothing wrong with the mainstream if you are still writing good music so I just tend to ignore the acts that have turned/always been shit!”

Music seems to run through the Simpson family, as younger brother Charlie has had success with recent band Fightstar and prior to this a certain band called Busted. Although Will’s association with his brother has helped in many aspects in the establishment of Brigade, it has also caused the band problems:

    “It's been a double edged sword. We've had the chance to play to a lot more people a lot earlier than we would have been by supporting them but, a lot of people haven't given us the time of day because of the association, which is ridiculous.
    "So in that sense we've had to work a lot harder than most to get people to listen without prejudice.”

It is definitely a battle that Brigade seem to be winning. The band already boast previous support slots with Biffy Clyro and Hundred Reasons, and are supporting Hell is for Heroes on their return to the UK in February:

    “Our favourite band to tour with I would say was Biffy Clyro as it was our first tour. We are massive fans of the band, we got on really well with the other support [thisGirl] and the whole thing was such a buzz. I wish we could go back and do it again with our band as it is now but we were really lucky to start out with that tour.
     “The most unusual touring experiences were when we went out on tour with Fighting With Wire in April and May 2006. It was our first headlining tour and the longest one we’ve ever done. Those guys were absolutely crazy - being Irish mavericks and all - we had a really good time together and have some good stories to tell from that tour, largely involving pranks each band would play on each other.
     “It certainly got us through the low points and we have been really good mates since. We hadn't really experienced a tour like that so it opened our eyes up to the long tour slog.”

Following the release of their critically acclaimed 11 track Lights album last October, the band hope to carry on this year were they left off in 2006:

    “I want to see us continue building our fan base; if by the end of the year we are playing to more people than before who are really into it then I’ll be happy. We always knew it would be a really slow build with us so I just hope to have album number two well on the way and to still be rocking hard. That’s all I could ask for.”