How did the band first come together?

6 or 7 years ago Myself and Ian started the band using drummers and bass players from other bands in Belfast (mostly General Fiasco’s Leaky and Owen) while we looked for permanent members. Troy lived with a couple of guys we befriended and got to know him by calling round playing FIFA and watching movies. We didn’t even know he played bass for the 1st while but when we found out we asked him along for a jam and he blew us away. I think after 1 jam we asked him to join. We found Dave through a forum called fastfude.org where musicians look to join bands. He impressed so he was in and the band was complete. Think that was nearly 5 years ago now. Geez.

We were toying with a bunch of names and I think we nearly called ourselves Waiting For Snow but with Snow Patrol being from Belfast too that would never work. I remember being in a bar with Ian and our 1st drummer Eamon and were throwing out suggestions left right and centre until eventually the three of us came out with A Plastic Rose. We just thought it was a really interesting name for a band and it had a nice ring to it. After that we were listening to Elliot Smith and there’s a lyric in one of his songs ‘clutching a plastic rose’ so we decided to go for it as we’re big Smith fans.

Loads and loads but the two big ones that we all agree on are Nirvana and Radiohead. There’s an Irish band called Berekley that are incredible too who influenced us. A lot of our sound comes from seeing amazing local bands on a regular basis like Mojo Fury, ASIWYFA, General Fiasco, Lafaro, Six Star Hotel and many more. There’s a really good scene here and we’re all influencing and pushing each other.

Catchy anthemic choruses, honest and heart felt lyrics, thumping drums and sexy bass lines. It’s a very dynamic album so people expecting 11 songs that sound the same will be very surprised. We don’t like to keep writing the same songs so we mix it up. There’s a beautiful acoustic-piano song, a really Irishy song and also some really heavy riffs and screaming. We wanted to stay true to the format of our favourite albums and not have 11 ‘singles’. Albums are a piece of art that has to be experienced start to finish so by the end you’ve been through a journey that we’ve taken you. Hopefully you’ll enjoy the trip.

It’s very exciting being a brand new band on the British circuit playing to new faces every night, it’s like starting again which is awesome. Since we’ve signed to our booking agency we’re now playing great venues and all the shows are promoted really well and it’s helping us get our name out there so there might actually be good crowds too which would be amazing. We always play with our hearts on our sleeves and give the best performance we possibly can each night but also we don’t take ourselves too seriously as people so we have a laugh with the audience whenever we feel the crowd are up for it. Last time we toured England I got the crowds to do the ‘fisting dance’ and in Derry Ian invented ’Irish dancing moshing’. Having fun on stage is important to us but playing well and getting the songs out as well as possible is the most important. We love a sing-along too but we don’t have our album out yet so people only know the words to a few songs. That’ll be changing soon.

Earlier this year, you had the chance to open up for Snow Patrol. What it is like opening up for a band that big as well as one whose sound you don’t share too many similarities with?

It was an incredible experience playing London’s O2 with one of the biggest bands in the world and one we were very grateful for. When people see us play they’re usually really surprised at how heavy we are because of the Snow Patrol supports but just cause you play with a band doesn’t mean you’re the exact same. Over the years we’ve played with many different types of bands from soft to heavy and I think it’s a brilliant reflection on us that we have a catalogue of songs so vast that we can change the set list to suit the occasion. With Snow Patrol we played our more radio friendly/arena sized songs and they went down a treat with their fans. We didn’t go as nuts as we usually do cause we understood who we were playing for. We’re a versatile band,we’ve played with Explosions In The Sky, Frank Turner and at the Kerrang Awards show with Hawk Eyes and Arcane Roots and just went nuts. We have an acoustic set too. We’re kind of bi polar when it comes to music! Gary Lightbody’s an absolute legend and just loved what he saw when he came to see us play and asked us to support them.

Who would you say are your new favourite acts on the scene at the moment?

Aside from the album release, is there is anything else exciting in the pipeline?