Music
Can you tell us who 'Mistress Mabel' is?
"Well, it's the only song on the album where we just made up the f***ng lyrics - the lyrics mean f**k all! The rest of the record is pretty factual, but it just worked out that this was the first single. On the first album we had lots of very clever story-telling, but unfortunately that leads to lots of awkward questions: 'Can you explain this? Can you explain that?' The truth is sometimes we can't, because the words are just made up to fit the music. 'Mistress Mabel' is exactly like that."
Your first album, Costello Music, has sold more than a million copies. Do you feel under pressure from the label to match its sales figures?
"The label have always been really good to us - they learned pretty quick that we aren't 18-year-olds who'll do everything they want us to. Last time around we said no to 50% of the things they asked us to do. When you're on a label like Universal they sometimes forget you're not the Sugababes and there's certain things you won't do. We need to give them credit though, because they left us alone to do our new album and gave us a s**tload of money and a studio. They funded us, but weren't coming to visit to check for results every week."
How does it feel when you hear 'Chelsea Dagger' being sung at football matches and music festivals?
"It's only the last few months, since we've slowed down, that I've noticed it's everywhere. The thing that means the most to me is when they play it at Celtic Park because I'm a Celtic supporter. There's not been a song like 'Chelsea Dagger' that's embedded itself in British society for a while. I can't remember the last song that did that. We're not going to moan about it because we're a band that make popular records, so if people embrace it, then good on them. You can't get p***ed off when you play it to a room full of 2,000 people and they all go crazy - that's a very nice sight."
You're playing Glastonbury for the second year in a row. Have you got anything special planned?
"Personally we had a fairly s**t Glastonbury last year because of technical problems. We placed a bit too much pressure on ourselves, and rightly so because it's f***ing Glastonbury and it's a big deal. There was nothing worse than turning around to see our big beautiful Fratellis backdrop falling down and then our guitar straps breaking. It was very Spinal Tap. Everything that could go wrong did go wrong. I'm amazed we've been asked back to be honest."
Will you be hanging around to see Shakin' Stevens on the Saturday?
"I hope so. We're doing some festivals the same weekend, but I'm going to stay over on Friday night and see what Shaky's doing. I would love to see him. I would love to see Neil Diamond on the Sunday too, but we've got a festival to do in Switzerland. We've been trawling through our calendars to see whether our paths cross with Diamond, but it looks as if we're not going to see him anywhere."
Luke from the Kooks claimed last week that he once kicked Alex from the Arctic Monkeys in the head. Which band do you think would win in a scrap?
"I missed the whole thing with The Kooks and the Arctic Monkeys. I'm not a fan of either band. I must be the only man in the country to have only just bought the first Monkeys album. It's not my cup of tea. If I had to put some money on them in a fight I'd pick the Monkeys. That's hilarious though - I'd like to watch that! I'd love to see the two of them rolling around in the mud, so I'll keep my eyes open for that one!"
The Fratellis' new single 'Mistress Mabel' is released on May 26. The album Here We Stand follows on June 9.
More: The Fratellis, Music
