There was a little disappointment for some last year that Vaughn's debut album, 'Soldiers and Sailors on Riverside', wasn't a return to the Tyketto sound loved by many. However, it was still a great album and the following UK tours were highly successful. Now, on the verge of a new album and yet another greatly anticipated UK tour and Z Rock appearance, Kieran Dargan drags Danny Vaughn out of the rehearsal room to chat about the new album.

'Fearless' is the title of the new album. Where exactly did you get the title from?

"Well, in relation to the song itself, I noticed that I was writing primarily about two subjects - anger and fear. I find more and more it seems to be the two real problems that the world has and it’s all central to people. People run around for years doing the same old things and then all of a sudden, they hit a certain age and start running around for the last ten years of their life trying to cram everything in wondering why they never lived in the first place. It also refers to picking your friends because those are the friends you want to be with or being in a relationship with somebody because you want to be, not because somebody tells you it’s okay...kind of turning your nose at conventionality and basically doing your own thing."

Danny Vaughn is a storyteller first and foremost, however this time round you seem to have dug deeper and come up with a lot of personal and social commentary, would it be fair to say that it borders on Americana?

"That’s natural for me. I think it goes that way because I’m primarily an acoustic guitar player. Take a song like ‘Just like That’, that’s very much in the John Cougar vein...the storytelling thing, very American. I’m sure if I spent more time in Europe I would try my hand at telling European stories but seeing as I don’t, I can’t."

So it would be fair to say it is a pretty good comparison?

"Yes I think so. I grew up listening to Bob Dylan and the Beatles, so I guess I’m thoroughly confused...hahahaha."

When we last spoke a few months back you were telling me you were looking forward to making a big rock record just for the fun of it. It hasn’t really turned out that way has it? I mean it has some big rocking moments but there is a lot if acoustic stuff in there as well, especially the rather strange 'Dulcimer Street'?

"It kind of is. I guess if you look back there has always been one odd ball on every record. This was a sort of acoustic thing and the producer came up with the drum loop, which for us put a Peter Gabriel spin on it. I think one thing that maybe people don’t understand is when you latch on to something that is new for you, you find it very exciting...'Wow, we’ve never done that, sounding like Gabriel…cool…wow.' The song is basically about the American civil war."

Yeah, you seemed to approach it from a southern point of view?

"Yeah, I did. I’m hoping it won’t bite me in the ass some day. It’s a complete fantasy piece, first of all nobody came home happy from that one. They all came home missing limbs, there were no big turnouts and fanfares because the south was pretty badly crushed. I’m a big history buff and I guess there was a certain romance about that period of time. Everybody was really big into flowery speeches and stuff but it’s not really based on any real life experience I read about."

'Million Miles of Road ' kind of sums up your life on the road over the past sixteen years or so, especially the line ‘I’ve still got plenty of miles in the tank left’. Does this mean Vaughn are destined to tour the highways and by ways for the next twenty years?

"Hahahahahaha……yeah God, I hope so. We feel now we’ve planted our feet in a record very firmly that can be released in America. 'Soldiers and Sailors' still feels to me like my favourite record as far as being a writer, this one is still brand new...it always takes me a while to make my own assessment. To me 'Soldiers & Sailors' was a deliberate attempt to make a seventies record while this one is very modern sounding so we’re really going to make a major play to get this one released in America by a record company. Yeah...'Million Miles of Road'. I suppose it started with me on 'Soldiers....', digging deeper into myself for lyrical inspiration and with 'Million Miles....' it was around the time of my birthday and I got to asking myself 'What have I done? How is my life going?' and it’s funny but If you want to hear God laugh, tell him your plans. Yeah, I guess I’m destined for life on the road, or at least a good portion of it...hahahahahaha."

I noticed on some songs on the album there was a very modern edge on some songs

"That was down to the producer and the engineer who came at us with different ideas, certainly different to what we would have had in mind but they were good ideas."

In the album review I mentioned that the band were leaving behind the albatross that was 'Don’t Come Easy 'and heading for pastures new.

"You’ve coined a few phrases there."

"Well I know that everybody constantly makes reference to 'Don’t Come Easy' and especially 'Forever Young'. Surely you must be tired of everybody asking for another 'Forever Young', so is 'Don’t Come Easy 'in fact an albatross?

"No, not really. Honestly and truthfully if I didn’t ever have to perform 'Forever Young' again I probably wouldn’t cry. It’s not because I dislike the song, it’s the only song I have ALWAYS played live, every single time, and of course we will be playing it again this time. I guess I don’t really realise what an impact it had. Even here I run into people who may barely have heard of Tyketto but they have heard that song, so not playing it would be suicidal."

I was wondering if you are familiar with TNT’s 'Transistor' and the song 'Crashing Down' in particular .The reason I ask is because the closing section of 'Was There a Moment' is very similar to a song of a similar name on the TNT album?

"Oh no, shit! Tony’s never going to let me live that one down. Ah crap, I hate him having one up on me, hahahahahahaha!!"

So the forthcoming tour, the third in two year. Nothing for five years and then all of a sudden two albums and three tour in two years...Mr productivity all of a sudden. So I guess you still love the road then?

"Yeah, to me the biggest bummer is I come in and in two weeks I’m done ….damn ….I’m just getting good at this. I’m just warming up. This one is just to let people know there is a new record available, even before it’s out, which may or may not be suicidal. We feel we have a strong enough fan base that we’ll be able to do that but what we’re really setting up for is a more extensive thing in March taking in a lot more of Europe."

So that’s Europe taken care of, do you have anything happening in the USA?

"We have bunch of meetings lined up so when we get back after making some noise in the UK, which is always good coming off a good tour, we hope to get something happening. I’ll be poking my nose in anywhere I can. It’s been a very nice part time thing but we would really love to get it back to full time. The thing is in the USA, and it’s not so much the money, but if they sign you they have to get you out touring and that would help get it back to being a full time thing, but you know you never can tell with record companies. I know, I work for one."

Oh yes, I forgot...you are still doing the A&R thing for Atlantic.

"Yes I am, and don’t ask me why I don’t sign myself…. don’t do it… don’t ask, everybody else does."

So why not then?

"Because it’s ethically incorrect as you know...hahahahahaha!"

Obviously a major label is out of the question in the states?

"Not necessarily. I have meeting with one or two when I get back."

So how are rehersals going?

"Very well. You just interrupted 'Burning Down Inside', hahahaha. Jamie flies in today. We have been rehearsing without him for about five days, so the next week will be pretty constant bashing them out day after day. The new material translates well to playing live so we think we have the right mix of new songs with older material."

So how many new ones do you think you’ll be playing?

"About six. Yes, six I think."

So it’s going to be a very long set than is it... hahaha? That’s my way of saying that you really can’t afford to drop very much of the older material without fear of being lynched?

"True. I want to play some stuff off 'Soldiers...'. I can’t remember how many Tyketto songs will be in the set but we have a few surprises in store. We’ll be doing some acoustic numbers with some of the old stuff which should be fun."

So rehersal is going well. Touring personnel are still the same... Danny, Mike, Jamie, PJ and Kyle?

"Yep, exactly the same."

I thought PJ was playing really, really well on the new album.

"Thanks, I’ll pass that on to him. He was a totally different animal in the studio this time round because this time he knew what he was getting himself into. Last time the poor kid just had this panicked look on his face. This time from the rhythm standpoint both he and Kyle were full of ideas. When I got in they were...you know, I was thinking what about this chord change, what about this, that and the other. The chorus on 'Haunted'...PJ came up with that. There was a lot more creative input from both of them this time round and I think it shows. In fact the whole recording process was very quick for me and that wasn’t always the case with Tyketto where it took a while, but this time it was five on the first day, and then two a day over the next two days and all of a sudden it was done...I’m going 'Can I do that again please?' just so as I can stay in the studio."

So do you hang around for the whole process or do you get kicked out when others are doing their thing?

"I am there with the iron grip and Michael is the other hand with the iron grip, we basically hold a testicle each. I have great trust in Paul Orifino now and that’s cool because he can go oh you’re doing this or that and I’ll go, 'Okay, I’ll drop by later and lend my two cents'. But yes, if you have a real strong vision you have to be there to guide everything along, but as far as the project goes it was real loose with room for everybody to work, not as planned as previous recording sessions for whatever reasons but it worked out real well."

At thirty eight minutes and only nine songs, you could get a bit of a backlash in the value for money stakes?

"Or you could say you got nine really, really solid songs as opposed to a sixty minute album with nine really solid songs and four pieces of shit."

"Well yes, but with the vast majority of releases in this genre recently it tends to be 10-12 tracks per album."

"It just worked out that way, it wasn’t planned, but I do have to say AOR or otherwise bands are making records way too fucking long. I’m not saying I wouldn’t have gone another two songs if they were right there and solid and strong, because there were definitely some alternatives and they may resurface, but they didn’t stand as a unit. That’s the first thing Mark Alger said when he got the masters was 'My CD player says only 38 minutes…what the hell?” You may be right, we may need another track, but listen to it through. After he did he didn’t mind anymore...it flows, it feels like a solid piece. We considered another song but it would have affected the continuity. There have been some great records shorter than that."

The debut Boston album.

"Yeah, I like that, and Diver Down was only like twenty nine minutes or so...."

Yes, but that was back in the days of vinyl. Everybody knows a CD is 74 minutes.

"I know, I know but a lot of the time I think bands feel obligated to fill that space up. There are very few bands that I can listen to for seventy four minutes, that’s crazy. Maybe like Queensryche’s 'Operation Mindcrime', that’s cool, but a lot of bands coming from England right now are depressing. I can’t listen to them for an hour no matter how good they are. Somebody must have had decent parents in the last 20 years. Every now and then my sister and I turn to my father and complain that we were neither beaten or abused...'It’s your fault I have a lack of subject matter for my next album!', hahaha."

'Fearless'and 'Haunted', these are the big ones. What about all those who are waiting for a rewrite of the first Tyketto album? Is it safe to say we’ll never hear that type of stuff again?

"I think it’s safe to say if you don’t hear it in 'Haunted' and 'Fearless' there’s something wrong with you. .hahahaha."

It’s not that we don’t hear it, but for those that want to hear seven of those and three ballads going back to the way albums were made years ago...

"I don’t know...what comes comes. For me 'Fly Away' has a huge chorus as well, it just isn’t produced as such. I’m going to tread this ground very carefully here, there are a number of bands that get featured in magazines such as yours and others that specialise in AOR that kind of caught the wave at the time who really weren’t that good at it, but have now said this is our niche and this is where we’re staying. For me personally, I don’t think I should stay in the one place...I don’t like getting slammed into that pocket but I won’t run away from it intentionally either. I write what I write and we’ll see where it goes later."

I do remember you telling me that the big chorus does come naturally to you.

"Pretty much. It all to me has it’s roots in folk music really, we all use the same chords, just differently, but it’s where I come from."

Having listened to 'Fearless' yourself , is it safe to say it could have possibly been the follow on to Strength in Numbers, even more so that 'Soldiers and Sailors...' in as much as it has a similar feel?

"I think that’s a good thing. I’ll have to ask Michael and Jamie what they think of that, that’s interesting. I do think there is a little more Tyketto in this record than 'Soldiers...' but that’s an after thought. It’s when you step back you go….oh look at that, but at no point did we sit down and say we need to write 'Forever Young' or 'Wings' again. But 'Haunted' could have easily been on a Tyketto record."

You are obviously looking forward to the tour. Any chance of a sneak preview of the set list?

"Nah, it would spoil the fun, but I think ‘Is That All There Is' has to be in there and the amount of requests we get for 'Soldiers and Sailors' possibly means we couldn’t leave it out. There a few surprises and little quirky things to look forward to."

I have to say it’s great to see you back on the bill for Z Rock again.

"Yeah, after a lot of kicking and screaming. I was like hello, I am literally in the neighbourhood."

So finally is there anything you would like to tell all the fans out there?

"We look forward to catching up with all our friends on this tour, it will be great. See you in about a week or so."