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Back in 2008, when Organised-Sound first crossed paths with this band in York's Fibbers bar, one of our writers infamously dubbed them as similar to a kinda bueno; crunchy but smooth. However, to the few people who knew the name back then, they were just another young band to emerge from the growing London scene. But, after an incredible amount of touring, two EPs and a debut album released in February, We Are The Ocean have cemented themselves as one of the hardest-working post-hardcore groups to come out of the UK in recent years.

After their three-day stint supporting Lostprophets, we chatted to Dan Brown, Liam Cromby and Alfie Scully about the difficulties of touring, recording in America, and just what they think of the Alexisonfire comparisons...

OS: You've just finished a few dates supporting Lostprophets. How have these shows been?
Dan Brown [vocals]: Pretty surreal! They're probably the biggest band we've supported, and we only did three shows with them but we've played to 7,000 people, which is a pretty big deal. They're all really nice guys as well.

OS: You recently released your debut album 'Cutting Our Teeth'. How do you think it's gone down so far?
Liam Cromby [vocals/guitar]: Very well.
Alfie Scully [guitar]: Long-awaited.
Dan: All the reception seems to have been pretty good so far. In the media, as well, we've gotten some pretty good reviews. Yeah, the fans seem to like it. I've seen a few things online from people who didn't used to like us, who like us now, so it's definitely turned a few heads.
Alfie: People haven't been slipping away either, which is good.
Dan: Some people have said that they prefer the older stuff, but you're always going to have that.

OS: Back in 2008, you released a self-titled EP. I noticed that none of the tracks from that were repeated on the new album.
All: No.
OS: Obviously, there are a lot of bands who choose to include some older songs on their debut, but you didn't. How did you decide to include only new songs?
Dan: It was half that they were pretty old for us - not that we forget about them but, you know, they were on that EP, and that's done.
Liam: They've had their time.
Dan: Yeah, it's like the next chapter. Secondly, because we had so much of a gap between the EP and the album. With only ten songs an the album, if four of them had been on the EP as well, that would only really be six new songs. We wanted to keep it fresh.
OS: Plus, there's always the opportunity to play the older material in your live set.
Alfie: Yeah, totally.
Dan: We're still playing a load of old songs; we still usually finish on 'Nothing Good Has Happened Yet'.

OS: Do you ever worry that maybe you'll grow tired of the old songs that way?
Dan: Not really! They're old for us, but they still get the best crowd reaction, so it's always great to play them.
Alfie: When you see people digging the songs anyway, it's just amazing.
Dan: If we were just playing old stuff, and everyone was like, "Urghhh", we'd just say, "fuck this." It's the crowd that keeps those songs going really.

OS: What is the new album about? Are there any lyrical themes running through it?
Liam: Yeah, a lot of the lyrics are a lot more.. We worked on the lyrics a lot more than we had with the EP. We just made sure that all of the songs meant something to us.
Dan: It's not a concept album in any way; it doesn't follow a particular story or anything.
Alfie: But there is depth to it.
Liam: There are songs about playing live, and people who mean a lot to us.
Dan: Finding yourself.
Liam: Yeah, finding ourselves.
Alfie: The experience we had as a band first starting has helped too.
Dan: We saw the debut album as the first stepping stone; the first big deal for us.
Liam: We wanted to try and make ir personal.
Dan: Yeah, that's where 'Cutting Our Teeth' comes from. This is just us; it's a learning curve, but it's also the first big thing we've done that we're proud of.

OS: You went over to America to record the album in Baltimore, with Brian McTernan. How did that come about?
Dan: We were looking around at a few producers and it just kinda happened. It was our lawyer that first came up with the idea, then we took it to our manager and they took care of the business side. But, at first, I don't think any of us really knew what he [their producer, Brian McTernan] had done, until we looked into it. But yeah, it was great. He is definitely a genius.
Alfie: It was a great, great experience.

OS: Do you think the fact that you recorded in America changed, or shaped the record at all?
Dan: Yeah, totally. It would've turned out a lot different - not even producer-wise. Just literally, the environment we were in. I think we felt more mature, more like adults, too, for the first time.
Alfie: It felt more real.
Dan: Yeah, there was just us five. We went to airport, got a plane, all on our own.
Liam: We were living together for a month.
Dan: It was the first time we'd ever done that. Just five weeks, living together. Obviously, we live together on tour, but it's a lot different.
Liam: In a house, with a kitchen.. [laughs]
Dan: Yeah, the house was above the studio, so we would just live there. We cooked for ourselves! So yeah, it brought us together and we grew up. ..Except Alfie; he still can't cook.

OS: The album release date was repeatedly delayed. What caused that?
Dan: Well, originally, the album was meant to be recorded before it was - we recorded it in April last year. But then, we got offered the Funeral For A Friend tour and we really wanted to do it, so we delayed recording until April, which was one step back already. We still didn't have a label - we went out [to America to record] on our own - so when we came back, we tried to find one. It was slow at first; there were a lot of labels umm-ing and aww-ing and we'd had offers, but we didn't really feel they were good offers. We didn't want to just jump into anything.
Alfie: We wanted something we were comfortable with.
Dan: Then we decided to just do it on our own and self-release it, which we were gonna do after the summer. But, then Hassle Records came along and did offer us a good deal, and we love the label. So, we said, "okay, let's not self-release, but go with Hassle." But, they didn't have time to release it for that date, so told us to wait until January.
Alfie: It was all a series of unfortunate events.
Dan: It was very unfortunate, and we felt like we were letting a lot of people down. People had been waiting for the album for so long, and we kept having to announce that it was delayed. But, I don't know: it could've damaged us, but I don't think it has.
OS: Plus, you released the digital 'Look Alive' EP.
Dan: That was because we thought it was getting a little ridiculous.
Alfie: We wanted to give the fans something.
Dan: And we wanted to get a couple of the songs out there just to preview the album and just give kids something to listen to while we were away. It all worked out though.

OS: As a band, you've obviously done a huge amount of touring in the last three years, so, would you say that that plays a bigger role for you, compared with recording?
Dan: They're both just being in a band really.
Alfie: You have to be willing to put in the hard work, to do a lot of touring, and put yourselves out there.
Dan: A lot of the tours that we've done are stressful, and some of them don't go how you want them to go. You can break down, and equipment breaks, and you end up spending loads of money.
Alfie: Everyone thinks it's this glamorous thing.
Dan: But, it's definitely stressful, and it's still hard. Even doing bigger tours and having more people out there who listen to the band, it's still just as hard. But, it's more fun as well, so it all evens out.
OS: I think, as well, you're the kind of band who has been pretty relentless with tours, whereas there are always bands who are more relaxed with it, and tend to do less of it because of that.
Dan: I think that's also because it's so expensive to tour: some bands just either give up, or wait until the money's there, but we've done so many tours now, on a loss. Even before one of the tours, we worked out a budget and were like, "okay, we're going to lose money on this tour. It's a guarantee." But we said, let's just do it. A lot of bands do that - we're not saying we're the only band that do - but, it's just about sticking at it.
Alfie: Any show, anywhere was our motto.
Dan: Yeah! We try to never ever pull out of a show.
Liam: I think we've pulled out of one show...
Dan: I was gonna say, I don't think we've ever pulled out of a show in this country. We've pulled out a show in Australia - is that the only one?
Liam: Yeah.
Dan: When we were in Australia, we pulled out of a show because I literally had no voice at all.
Liam: We did two shows, one during the day and one at night, but we had to pull the one at night. He [Dan] just couldn't do anything.
Dan: ...It was so embarrassing.
Alfie: It sounded like a girl going through her first hormone changes. [laughs]
Dan: So, we pulled the evening show. Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's the only show we've ever pulled out of, which is pretty cool. But, we've all done shows when we're really ill.
Liam: It's just if we literally cannot do anything, then we'll pull out.
Dan: That's the only time I've ever felt like I couldn't do it.
Liam: We've all been really ill before. There's been times when I could hardly sing, but I thought, "you know what, people are paying money to see you, so they should see you play."

OS: Plus, you never know who could be in the audience; it could be your next biggest fan.
Dan: Yeah, that's kinda weird, especially if we are having an off day. Obviously, we always give it 100%, but sometimes you do have an off day, and you think, "ahh, there are so many people who just saw us the first time and thought it was crap. You could've come to another show when we were good!"
Alfie: But they still us, and the name was heard.
Dan: They still saw us. They still gather around saying, "that band? They were crap."

OS: Over the years, there have been a few comparisons of yourselves with Alexisonfire.
Alfie: This is true.
OS: Do you think that's made it more difficult for you to carve out your own unique niche? Or do you see it as more of a compliment?
Dan: It is a great compliment! Most of the people who are saying it are also saying, "Alexisonfire are my favourite band, and you're just ripping them off." But, it's just like, if you're saying we sound like them and they're your favourite band, why aren't we your second favourite band?!
Liam: Yes! [everyone laughs]
Alfie: I think people just like to tag people like that.
Dan: At one point, while we were doing the album, I think we were a bit like, "what if people are still saying it?" But there was no point in us deliberately changing the sound. We don't wanna be too cautious about it, so were just like, "let's just fucking do it.". The people that are saying it are never gonna like the band anyway. There's still a good amount of people that like us, because they haven't heard Alexisonfire! [everyone laughs]

OS: Alongside that, there's the infamous 'dial-a-support' title that you've been tagged with..
Alfie: I don't understand where that even comes from.
Dan: There are so many other bands out there that tour just as much as us. It's only really internet forums that talk about that, and it's not really slagging bands off. I think there's so many bands that people see live, that they get disappointed when.. I know I do it, when a band's got a tour, I'm really eager to find out whose supporting because, if it's a good support act, then it'll be an amazing tour. I think a lot of the time, people are just disappointed that it's not the band they wanted. It's not really anything to do with us, they just want someone else.
Liam: Like Alexisonfire!
Dan: But, we're cheaper.

OS: In a few weeks time, you're going to head off on tour supporting Underoath. How does that feel?
Dan: Please note the rock horns are up! Yeah, it's gonna be great.
Alfie: I'm really excited to play to play Koko in London, just because, we've never played there before and - I don't know about anyone else's parents - but my parents used to go there all the time back in the day! So, that show will be awesome, and the rest of the tour will be fucking cool. They're a great band that we've all listened to at some point.

OS: And then you'll be touring with Madina Lake.
Alfie: Yeah, we haven't done like a good two week tour of the UK in ages.
Dan: We've been doing pretty short tours.. Apart from the headline tour.
OS: Thrice was a pretty short tour too.
Dan: Thrice was five shows, three shows with Lostprophets and then five shows with Underoath. So, it'll be our first extensive tour this year. Again, with people saying we tour all the time: we've only done like, ten shows this year.
Alfie: I don't get that. How can you win?
Dan: Fair enough, we've done a lot of tours, but Thrice was only five shows, and Underoath's only five. That's more of a mini-tour!

OS: Obviously, you're still a fairly young band, but you've managed to do so much in the last few years. What have been some of the highlights for you?
Dan: There's been loads of highlights. Definitely doing the album, going to America and having that experience of going abroad and recording with this amazing producer.
Alfie: The amount of travelling that we've done so far too, is really fucking good too. Touring in Australia..
Dan: We did Sweden as well, which was sweet. That's a nice country.
Alfie: It's just great to see people from different walks of life and different cultures, and get to play to them.
Liam: We're experiencing the world.
Alfie: We are.
Dan: Australia was mental too because we've never had any press out there, we'd never even thought about going out there until the opportunity came around. But, we went out there and there were so many kids that were into it and already knew the songs.
Liam: It was insane.

OS: And apparently there's a huge hardcore scene out in Australia?
Liam: The music scene out there is amazing; it's not just for little kids either, you get 25 to 30 year olds coming down, pitting and stuff.
Alfie: It's very alive.
Liam: And they're willing to listen.
Dan: They definitely support the local scenes more out there too. They do over here, but not to the extent they do in Australia. There aren't really "scenes" here anymore. But, something we found out when we were there is that, if an international band tour Australia, they have to have an Australian band on the bill. That's really cool. Bands come over here with American bands and there's no English bands on the bill. So, that gives Australian bands a chance; there's always a slot for them. The radio stations even have to play an Australian band every half an hour. They're just supporting music out there a lot more.

OS: Finally, do you have any plans for what you'll be doing with the rest of your year?
Dan: We're trying to get out to Europe. That's the next step for us, because - we did Sweden but - we haven't really toured Europe yet, and the album's out there now too. Then, a couple of festivals in the UK.
Alfie: Yeah, just keeping busy. You'll see us about!

'Cutting Our Teeth' is out now on Hassle Records.