Andy Cairns is casting his mind back to Therapy?'s past releases, and with a quarter century of history there are a few.
"...the majority are pretty good," he says, modestly. "I think there have been a couple that when I look back I go 'Oh God, no..."
"One Cure Fits All in 2007 was a little bit sleepy..." he admits, "and Shameless was our nadir..."
But heck, there are plenty of great albums to choose from. New release Disquiet, our album of the year so far, brings the total tally to 14. It is the sound of a band - completed by bassist Michael McKeegan and drummer Neil Cooper - deep into their career, and yet still brimming with all the urgency and bite of a newcomer.
You'll not hear Andy calling Disquiet 'a little bit sleepy' any time soon. Although it has been called 'a sequel of sorts' to the bands' 1994 million-selling Troublegum opus.
"I would start off in the kitchen of my house with an acoustic guitar and my iPhone and would record the voice and guitar of something like Still Hurts, and send it to the other two lads. They would get back and go 'Yeah, I like it' or “Neeeurgh, not really doing it for me'.
"We have this democracy where if one of the three of us doesn't like it, we drop it immediately.
"We ended up with 20 songs out of a bunch that we all liked..."
Producer Tom Galgety then wrapped his ears around those same iPhone recordings: "He said 'Lose the beginning of this bit, chop a little bit of this, maybe change the melody of that' and gave suggestions, all of this was going back and forward.
"Once we had it all sorted out we rehearsed for a week, and then went into Blast Studios, in Newcastle Upon Tyne.
"Because we had rehearsed the songs, pre-arranged them and because the producer had been involved, we just had to go in and get them down with as much energy as possible.
"Once we actually got in the front door of the studio, all the hard work was done. We had the luxury of being able to spend some time making sure it was right."
It was a far more economical way of working than '95s Infernal Love: "...that was completely written from scratch in the studio. A terrible and expensive way to write a record," Andy admits.
Knob-twiddler Dalgety - the man at the helm of Royal Blood's self-titled debut, was even snapped up at a bargain fee.
"We were very, very fortunate. We've known Tom for a long time and asked him to produce the album just before the Royal Blood one was released...we got him at a good rate!" he says with a laugh.
Therapy? are still playing to the faithful followers ("...the fans have been great, without them we'd be absolutely nothing), but there is a new intake of ears too: "We're beginning to get young people coming through - it's that Iron Maiden syndrome, that's what they call it.
"I suppose if someone is into Bring Me The Horizon or You Me At Six and their Dad says 'there's a band I was into when I was younger', they'll go and see what it's all about. "It is certainly not all people my age at the shows, thank God. And the people my age no longer come down the front, they stand at the bar or near the mixing desk!"
As does this chap when he's not on the stage: "Even when I was young I was that person. I was so grumpy!
"I went to see Royal Blood recently and, bless him, there was a young guy there who completely lost his s**t he was enjoying it so much.
"He had this glass in his hand and every time he put his glass in the air it was flying all over me.
"I didn't want to be Victor Meldrew, and go 'Excuse me...'" he says adopting a faux miserable voice, "...because how many times in my life have I been that pissed guy? I just moved to the back of the hall and stood there...."
If the Andy Cairns of today met the 20-something back in the day, he'd tell him to relax a little, to go with the flow and enjoy the journey.
"It doesn't feel that I'm looking at another band when I look back, but it does feel that I was a completely different person," he admits.
"It's strange, but I enjoy everything a lot more now.
"Spandau Ballet were just on television, bear with me on this," he laughs, "...they were asked if they still enjoy being in the band now they are older, and they said they enjoy it more. When they were younger they would play Wembley Arena and go 'Right, when can we play Wembley Stadium?' and I remember it being the same with us.
"We would sell out Brixton Academy, and rather than think 'Brilliant, we've sold out Brixton,' we would be asking our manager 'Where's the next one?' and 'Do you reckon we could do Wembley Arena?'
"When you are at that sort of age, that's the sort of thing that goes through your head, and when I look back now, I think 'Why didn't you just chill out?'
"I was always on the phone to our manager going 'Can you make this happen?' 'Why aren't we touring here?' 'Why aren't we doing this and that?'"
"Now I just love it. I love everything about it..."
The music industry has changed immeasurably since Therapy? first put their gnarly punk powered rock to demo some 25 years or so ago.
They were good times, but we probably didn't realise what a rich time it was for music.
"No, I don't think we did. I think we also grew up knowing the value of music - I do download a lot of stuff, don't get me wrong, but I've got a 15 year old son who can't understand the concept of why you would want to own a CD or a piece of vinyl.
"He likes music, but can't understand why I have a man shed full of CDs and vinyl!" he laughs again.
"I don't know what it was like in Milton Keynes, but for me, growing up in Northern Ireland, to get a cool record I had to get on a bus, go into Belfast, go to the record shop and get it. It was all part of the pageantry of getting the record. There was a ritual to it."
Andy attributes some of his band's success to the fact that they were never the pretty boys of rock, or playing for the image conscious crowd.
"We were never a glamorous band, so it's not as if we had to go away and come back 10 years later full of botox and terrible hair weaves.
"We had short hair but were playing riffs, and that was a big deal. Nobody was playing heavy rock that had short hair.
You look at Kerrang! these days and it's very hard to find anyone with long hair. Everyone looks like Ed Sheeran as far as I'm concerned..."
It's a business, a livelihood, sure, but Therapy? is a passion, and music is the force. That hasn't dulled one bit over the years.
Andy's brother-in-law caught up with the band at a recent gig: "He said 'I really don't believe it. I turn up to the meal, you and Michael were talking about bands.
'Then you sound checked, then we went out for a drink and talked about the new album. Then you went on stage and played for an hour and 45 minutes, then you come off stage and switched your ghetto blaster on in the dressing room, and when I get on the tour bus for a drink afterwards, you've got the stereo playing.
"He said 'the music never stops,'" Andy remembers.
"It doesn't. That's probably why we still do it..."
> Therapy? play Northampton Roadmender on Monday night (April 20).
To book tickets visit www.theroadmender.com
