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In the last two years, it’s impossible to think of another British band who have emerged with more infectious and distinctive rock songs than Kids In Glass Houses. Bursting out of South Wales’ hotbed of talent in early 2007, the charismatic quintet found a large and loyal fanbase almost instantly thanks to their huge songs, tireless worth ethic, charming demeanors and stylish aesthetic, with media support to match. Kerrang! Magazine named them one of ‘The Hottest New Bands On The Planet’ in 2007; they won the Welsh Music Award for ‘Best New Band’ the same year and they were named Punktastic’s ‘Band Of The Year’ in 2008. Truly, Kids In Glass Houses have become an essential part of the UK’s musical landscape and their upcoming second full-length ‘DIRT’ will only serve to solidify their place there.

It was frontman, Aled Phillips, who started the band, while still in school in 2004. It would be another two years before the right line up – consisting of guitarists Joel Fisher and Iain Mahanty, bassist Andrew Shay and drummer Phil Jenkins – was found amongst a variety of young bands doing the rounds on the South Wales circuit, but once the quintet were together, there was no stopping them.

“I was the last to join,” Iain notes. “I had been playing with Dopamine [members of which have since gone on to form Attack! Attack!] for three years but when I started playing with Kids, there was just something about the line-up that felt right from the very beginning. As soon as I joined, we started touring our little arses off.”

Phil and Aled dropped out of University – after just one week and one day respectively – to pursue the band full-time. The risk paid off and the boys found themselves on bills with big-hitters from the get go – the likes of Lostprophets, 30 Seconds To Mars, Manic Street Preachers, Goo Goo Dolls and Hundred Reasons all gave the band support slots on the back of their self-financed and self-released five-track EP, ‘E-Pocalypse’.

“The point that we thought ‘Hang on, we might have something here’,” Iain recalls, “was when we sold all those EPS ourselves – 2,500 of them – and suddenly there were kids singing along with every word at shows. Kerrang! Magazine picked up on us really early on, supported us and invited us to play their ‘Day Of Rock’ in London and that was just mind-blowing for us. It was like ‘Hang on, maybe we are good!’.”

By the time summer 2007 had arrived, Aled Phillips had made his way onto the cover of Kerrang! for the first time and Kids In Glass Houses found themselves on huge stages at the nation’s biggest festivals – Give It A Name, Download, The Full Ponty, Hyde Park Calling and the Carling Reading and Leeds festivals all included.

“Playing the NME Tent at Reading and Leeds was a real high point,” says Iain. “Those tents were absolutely rammed and we only had one EP out. It was nuts.”

By this time, multiple labels – both majors and indies - were knocking on their door, but rather than make a hasty decision about their future, the quintet instead opted to head into Cardiff’s Long Wave Studio with their friend Romesh Dodangoda to start work on what would become stunning debut full-length, ‘Smart Casual’.

“We took our time with it because we are inherently all really anal,” Iain laughs. “We didn’t really have much pressure on us either because we actually weren’t technically even signed. We just carried on doing our own thing and just getting on with it on our own, no expectations, just to move ourselves forward.”

On completing their album sessions, Kids In Glass Houses finished their year in the most epic manner possible – hitting the road with their friends in Funeral For A Friend and finally inking a deal with Roadrunner Records at a London date on the December tour.

“They felt like the right label,” Iain explains, “because they actually seemed to give a shit about us. And Roadrunner just felt right because they’re pretty much a major label with an indie mentality which is ideal for us.”

It was in 2008 that the band really began to shine though. Rock, that year, was undoubtedly a far better place for their contributions. From the melody-fuelled pop genius of their official debut single ‘Easy Tiger’ in March, through the cocky swagger of May’s ‘Give Me What I Want’ and the soulful bounce of August’s ‘Saturday’, through November’s riotous (and aptly-titled) ‘Fisticuffs’, 2008 belonged to Kids In Glass Houses. Their performances that summer at the Carling Reading and Leeds Festivals saw them pack out jubilant Radio One tents, and a signing session at Cardiff’s HMV store, to celebrate the May release of ‘Smart Casual’ prompted a near-riotous response. And in October, the band played a headlining show at London’s legendary Astoria venue. “That was a real landmark in my mind,” Iain notes. “I mean, headlining the Astoria was a goal of any band our age, and to do that, and to have it sell out, was just amazing to me.”

The touring continued in earnest, culminating in a hugely successful run of dates with New Found Glory and Paramore at the end of 2008, as well as a support slot with Fall Out Boy at the beginning of 2009 - the high point of which was performing for 20,000 people at London’s O2 Arena.

Taking a break from playing live, much of 2009 has been spent writing, perfecting and recording second album.

In August of 2009, the band flew out to the desert of Tornillo, Texas to record at Sonic Ranch Studios with Jason Perry. “He’d recorded our friends in The Blackout,” Aled explains, “and we loved what he did with their record. We clicked pretty instantly and he's just endlessly enthusiastic and creates a really incredible atmosphere to work in. We'd spent so long banging our heads against the wall and he just came in and set us straight.”

The band are positively buzzing about the results. “It doesn't pander to any fleeting trends,” Aled emphasizes. “It’s the most honest record we could have made. There are a few curveballs. It’s a bit rawer than our first. It’s quite a bit more expansive and the arrangements are more interesting. The most noticeable thing will be the inclusion and experimentation with electro elements, brass and strings. We've never wanted to cut ourselves off from playing with these things and making them part of our music. There's some grandiose bits, some fun bits and some textured pretty bits that step away from the two guitars, bass, drums and vocals approach. It was a lot of fun. We all just wanna be Prince, really,” he laughs.

Iain agrees: “I’m fucking stoked,” he smiles. “We’ve always prided ourselves in being good songwriters but we’ve really stepped it up a notch. The poppier parts are poppier, the harder stuff is harder. It’s all bigger - much bigger. We have literally grown up since the first record, so of course the songwriting’s matured. This time, we’ve been a lot wiser with our songwriting and we’re willing to take the criticism that may come with making an album that is less niche than our first.“

“The vibe this time is a lot less processed,” Iain continues. “A lot of music around now sounds like it’s coming off a conveyor belt. We wanted to step away from that, stick our necks out and go ‘Hang on, we’re a rock band. Let’s have it!’”

Iain is happy to sum up what we can expect from them once the album is released in March 2010. “These songs sound like they need bigger venues,” he says. “That’s how confident I am in them. I never have expectations about anything but I just know that this is an awesome record and it’s going to do really well. I’d say ten of the twelve songs could be singles.” Aled’s already anticipating big things too. “And I’d like a Grammy,” he grins, tongue firmly in cheek.

You never know...