The Answer swept into the Midlands recently with shows at Rock City & Wulfrun Hall. Guitarist and founder member, Paul Mahon, took time out to chat with Peter Keevil about that tour with AC/DC and their latest album, Everyday Demons.

PM: Yeah it was great. We have done the Rescue Rooms a couple of times but we hadn't been in the main room at Rock City since supporting Whitesnake in 2006, so it was nice to go back and headline. The crowd were really up for it.

Did you get a chance to catch Voodoo Johnson, who opened for you?

Yeah, I caught their sound check and the beginning of their set, so yeah I was pleasantly surprised. Sometimes when you have a local band as support it can be hit or miss but they were very much on their game and I managed to get a couple of CDs off of them to play on the bus.

That's good to hear. Is it a policy you have to get a local band to support you?

Well it is now! We did have the Black Spiders and an Australian band called Mammal, lined up for the whole tour. But Mammal split up just before the tour started so we took the decision to get local bands for each night.

You have recently toured with AC/DC, is it true you did 118 shows with them?

Yeah, 118! It was pretty amazing. When we got news of the tour we were over the moon, so many other bands wanted it too. So we got to see AC/DC every night and it exposed us to a new audience, so it was great for us personally and for the band as a whole.

You played the LG Arena in Birmingham, which was a great show. Do you get a chance to sense the difference in a venue or is it one arena after another?

Well when you get into it (the tour) it does get a little the same. The stage set-up is the same, so you just get to see the first couple of rows each night. The only difference are the really major venues like Madison Square Garden or Wembley Arena, where you do get a sense of how special the place is. But in the States you are often playing an ice hockey or basketball arena, and they can be pretty identical.

The US is just so large, once you get out in the mid-west you could really be anywhere.

So how do you get to adapt to the size of venue and stage, where you are playing enormo-domes and then just a few weeks later you are playing the likes of Rock City and Wulfrun Hall, or even where I last saw you at the (old) Birmingham Academy 2, with its low roof and its sweat-hall atmosphere?

The first few in the large arenas take a bit of getting used to, you get some nerves, you need to know how to work the larger stage but we have done them before, with Aerosmith, so we took to it like ducks to water and 3 or 4 shows in we were comfortable and just rocked the crowd.

So do you have a favourite type of show - the more intimate venues or the arenas?

Oh, I like both. On the AC/DC tour we would do smaller shows between dates, 200/300 capacity clubs and then go back to the larger venues the next day. So we got a sense of both types of crowd. We obviously see ourselves on the larger stage from a career perspective but the smaller shows can be more fun. At least there won't be any of those red AC/DC horns in the crowd tonight and we are headlining so we get to play a little longer and can relate to the crowd too.

What was it like in the States, as you are only now issuing this album (Everyday Demons) as your first in the States?

Well the first part of the tour we had nothing out in the States. We did an EP, with Never Too Late and a DVD, so that came out about two or three weeks into the tour. We did a big promo on that and it was also on Guitar Hero. Then the album came out around March so we did the first 4 months without the album when that came out the crowd started to pick up on the songs.

Did you get to notice that within the crowd?

Yeah, people knew Demon Eyes and Never Too Late and perhaps, Under The Sky from import copies of Rise and so on, so you could tell which tracks they knew and which were fresh.

Is there pressure on you now to return to the States and capitalise on that AC/DC exposure?

Yeah, there is always pressure. We are going to complete this tour and then start writing the next album soon and then do some shows in Europe and the States. Hopefully we can get the new album out around early October 2010 and then do the whole thing all over again!! Now we have opened up the US we want to get back but it does take time to crack the States, its just so large. Each US State is equivalent to a country over here!

So how is 'Everyday Demons' doing for you?

Its good. Its done more than RISE did and in half the time. Its started to slow a little but we hope this tour will see it pick up again. The challenge this time is that we have opened up the US and so we have spent less time working it over here but we are back now and know that we have brought fans of the first album with us and then some more, so we are pleased with progress.

How did you find making it, was it the classic 'difficult second album'?

Was that a difficult time?

Is 'Everyday Demons' a theme that runs through the album?

Yeah, I think Cormac is better placed to answer that but I do think that Rise was a bit more hopeful; about 4 guys getting out of Ireland and rocking the world and realising our dream. Whereas Everyday Demons is more about what it's like actually doing it. Its hard and not as simple as you think and it tackles some of those issues.

Well, you do get to enjoy Wolverhampton at 7am in the morning!!