Driven by a passion for their art, and an honest love for the music they create, it seems only right that this group have managed to stand the test of time. Catering to “the demographic of hypothetical teenage us,” Johnny Foreigner are continuing to live out the dream that drew them together in the first place. “We started out wanting to be the kind of band that if we weren’t in, then we’d fall in love with,” they explain. “Now we want to be the kind of band that if you’re just getting into bands, you’d fall in love with.” Writing the songs that they always wanted to hear, and revelling in every moment they get to spend doing so, the four-piece are somewhat reluctant to venture too far into what makes them tick. “It’s sort of like if you’re a magician and you see how someone else doing a magic trick, then that element of magic is gone because you know how it works,” Alexei characterises. “I kind of think in my head that if I take apart what it is that makes us write songs, and how we write them, and how we progress, then I’ll see behind the magic and the spark will go.” Keeping their craft close to their chest, the group are simply happy to be able to keep doing what they do so well. “As long as the hypothetical teenage us’ are impressed, then we’re doing okay,” they chuckle. Releasing their boldest record to date, the Birmingham quartet are scaling new heights. Taking its title from a Japanese term that loosely translates as ‘the awareness of impermanence’, ‘Mono No Aware’ is a venture through everything that was, is, and hangs in the balance for the four-piece. “Being aware that stuff fades, everything’s dying, everything’s moving on, and the sadness in beauty – that’s totally something that we wanted to capture with this album,” Alexei depicts. “There wasn’t really a smart English phrase to use for it. Then we found this, and that’s exactly it.” Already joking they regret the name (“it’s a bit annoying because we’re going to be answering questions about this now for the rest of our lives”), the quartet truly couldn’t be prouder of their latest efforts. Recorded over several months from their practice space in Digbeth, the album is the essence of who the band are. Scattered with references to people and places around their home city, the group are bearing their hearts on their sleeves – a stark contrast to the made up metropolitan setting of ‘You Can Do Better’. “There are only so many songs you can write about being in a taxi home from Snobs,” Alexei laughs of the decision. “But when we started doing this album it just made so much sense to go back to what was happening to us and our friends again.” Set along the streets they call home, inspired by feelings and friends they encounter on a regular basis, the record is a window into the lives of the four musicians who made it. “It could be slightly alienating to someone in Cape Town or New York or wherever when you’re referencing Pigeon Park and no one really knows what it is. It’s just a stupid sounding word,” the frontman ponders. “But to Birmingham there’s a whole context associated with that. People can listen to it and totally get it, and it’ll make it that bit more special.”