The Magic Gang: "We've put out a lot of flipping music, so it needs to be different"

The chart battle was a fierce one. In one corner, a much-loved and general champions-of-Dork indie band. In the other, a band of global pop superstars. Caught in a fight against overwhelming odds, our plucky underdogs still managed to punch way, way above their weight. If only they'd invented unlimited bundles back then, hey? Because without them, The Magic Gang just couldn't quite manage to compete with, amongst others, the combined 'talents' of Sam Smith, Ed Sheeran and Eminem, finishing just outside the top ten in the spring of 2018.

Along with fellow Brightonians Fickle Friends, who also charted highly that week, they were one of what felt like, until now, the last wave of Great Indie Hopes to bother the top of the charts. In many ways, it feels like they have earned their place amongst indie royalty these days, and so it was that Dork was summoned to a video chat with two of the gang, guitarist/vocalist Kris Smith and drummer Paeris Giles at Kris' South London home.

Like many first records, their self-titled debut didn't so much reflect where the band were as where they had come from. With them all living together in Brighton, in a house of eight that Kris still fondly, and glamorously, describes today as "mucky, untidy, with a living room full of ashtrays" (where do we sign up?), it portrayed life in its everyday ups and downs, basking in sunny moments pulled from every stage of love. Stick it on now, and it still feels like A Proper Indie Moment from start to finish.

"I think it's kind of a weird one for ourselves now," admits Paeris as the pair look back at that debut that walked the familiar tightrope of having to contain older work without feeling like just a retread. "I don't think it's where we were at at the time, but it would have been doing everyone an injustice not to have all of those songs in the bank I guess? And people seemed appreciative, it obviously did quite well so on that basis you can't be too snotty about it," he grins with an understatement.

It would be easy to forgive them for sticking close to a tried and tested formula for album number two then. No chance. 'Death Of The Party' isn't so much about the end of something, but rather the start of a whole new adventure altogether.