No Hope In New Jersey are one of Manchester's hottest young rock groups, with new album Steady Diet Of Decline set to shred your speakers later this month. They were picked up by Atlantic Records at only their sixth gig, so it's been a rapid rise to fame for the band, so we decided to ask frontman Andy Garratt a few questions of our own...

You formed in Manchester, where are you all originally from? How did you meet?

I hail back to a small town called Leicester. I came to Manchester to go to uni. That's were I met Steve. We both liked the Clash and it all started from there. Steve and me wrote a couple of songs and decided to record them. We needed a drummer and Steve's brother Craig, fitted the bill exactly. We have had loads of bass players, but since we've had Nick it's all slotted into place. It's like he should have been there from the start.

How come there's No Hope in New Jersey?

I was obsessed with the idea of growing up with no hope. It made me laugh. I wondered if there was a town called No Hope, which would emphasise the point. In the atlas I owned there was a town called No Hope, which happened to be in New Jersey. I felt a kinship with the idea of the place, but subsequently found out the place was called Hope.

What bands/artists inspired you?

At the time of recording the album I was into the raw guitars of The Stooges and Fugazi. So I wanted that rawness on our album. Vocally I have always loved David Bowie, but I don't think that is that apparent on our album.

What local bands do you like?

The bands which brought me to Manchester in the first place were, The Smiths, The Fall and Joy Division. I think any of these bands are equals to any bands that have ever existed.

What inspired you lyrically?

I was reading a lot of Charles Bukowski at the time and I think all that existentialism got under my skin. Beck is also an inspiration, he has his own language with odd phrase lengths. I suppose I tried to mix the two.

You recorded the debut album in just two weeks, was that tough?

It was a challenge, but we wanted the tracks to have the energy of a live performance, so a lot of the instrumental tracks are live. We did the definitive instrumental track in the day and did the vocals at night.

What are your hopes for the rest of 2005?

I hope to find a new place to live (I'm currently looking for a new flat to rent !) and to be able to tour the new album until Christmas.