The latest single It's A War is already receiving rave reviews after hitting the shelves on May 17 and Australia is anticipating the rest of the album to follow soon.

While the quintet are on the road at the moment hitting all the far reaches of the Australian music scene, lead guitarist Oscar Dawson took the time to chat about the album and the 'bizarre' and 'surreal' recording studios they called their home for several months this year.

You seem to get described as an electro band a lot, would you say that's the genre of music you best fit into?

I don't think we fit cleanly into the electro mould. We've certainly been thrown into that category a lot in past 6 months to a year. We are first and foremost a rock band and we mix in electronics later.

What led you to playing this type of music? Were you inspired by any particular bands in the beginning?

We've had a lot of different influences and we're all inspired by heaps of different bands. We sort of felt like the electronic stuff was the colouring of the music 'step'. We had to add that to the music. We felt like we had to move forward using electronics. I think for us it was just a logical step to take. We love some particular bands though like Cut Copy and The Presets. We love all those guys but we love a lot of other stuff too.

Tell me a bit about how you guys came together.

I was working a lot with Jack and he said to me 'do you want to have a bit of a play?' He'd known Corey and Scott for a number of years and we basically just started doing it.

Has your music changed a lot from the stuff you played when you first got together?

I'd say it's changed quite a lot to be honest. We started out probably a bit more punky and more rock but that changed fairly rapidly by the first album. We were already exploring different ideas and different colours. At the same time with the first album we didn't know what hell we were doing I guess we were exploring where we might like to go.

Can you tell me a bit about Minus? Did the name of the album come from how cold it was at the recording studio or did you decide to record at that particular studio to match with the album title?

The name certainly came second. We recorded in northern Sweden and it was just an amazing and different environment. It encapsulated the whole experience, I couldn't put it more simply than that. When we first got there in January it was only few hours of daylight a day, it was pretty bizarre and a bit surreal.

Why did you decide to record the album where you did? Did the idea of an asylum appeal to the band or did it match in the theme of the album?

The whole place and the wider area around it was a mental asylum for a number of years. It's a massive place and there's this really big building that would've been home to thousands of patients… it's got a bizarre feeling to it. The producers were the main things for us and the main reason we recorded there. We had this relationship with the producers, Pelle Henricson and Eskil Loverstrom, that were there. We really wanted to work with them.

Would you say this album carries a theme? Are you still trying to send out a message with your music?

I wouldn't say there's any particular story it's not a concept album, but we keep certain ideas running through it. Trying to maintain the energy is our biggest idea but I wouldn't say there's one particular theme.

Can you tell me a bit about the new single It's a War? Does it reflect any of the bands personal opinions or political standpoints?

I don't think that it was specifically intended to be a political song. Jack is always the best person to answer these questions but I definitely wouldn't say we're a political band. I think it's got a number of different meanings for what it's about. It's not necessarily a war between nations it could be a war between people or a war within.

How have your fans responded to your Minus so far?

Pretty well, it's been good now we've started getting on the road with it. People are receiving it really well we're looking forward to getting to all the far reaches of Australia. We're really looking forward to getting back to WA.

If you could go back and change one thing about it, what would it be and why?

I don't know what I would change. Whenever you do something creative you always have different ideas and there are so many things that could be changed but at this stage we're really proud of it.

Standout track or favourite track and why?

I love a track called Runaway. It's probably our most elegant song. It's cleaner. One of those songs where everything came together right the first time. Maybe its a sign of the future?

Could it maybe be the next single?

I can't say anything now about what we'll do in the future but it's possible it may be a sign of the direction we'll go in.

Are there any songs on the album with funny/interesting stories behind them?

I really don't know, I'm looking at the album right now and thinking of what songs I could say something about but everything really came together easily. We wrote a lot of material before we got over there to record and we either started programming or built all songs slowly. There was nothing crazy about any particular songs. It's not that there's a lack of fun but we do focus a lot on getting it perfect.

What can fans expect from a Dukes of Windsor gig?

It's a lot of fun. Our main idea is to get people moving. It's going to be a lot of fun seeing Jack disappear off stage or up the rafters. It's pretty crazy.

Does the Dukes of Windsor have any weird traditions or things you guys like to do before gigs to get yourselves psyched up?

I feel like our main tradition is just going to bathroom 17 times before we go on stage. We do a few stretches *laughs* you never know what will happen out there.

What is next for The Dukes of Windsor? An international tour, or back to writing more music?

We're always writing, it's something we do anyway, its sortof a part of our lives. There are no immediate plans to get overseas but we'll be going down that track later next year.

Are you playing at any up-coming events/concerts? Big Day Out 09 maybe?

We can only guess. It's all sort of being decided so we can't say anything for certain. Of course we want to go; everyone wants to do Big Day Out.

What bands do you think we should be looking out for and what bands do you think are really doing W.A proud?

Its hard to say there's so many Australian bands out there it's gotten massive there are so many bands now days and heaps of really good ones. We love The Presets and they're smashing a bit at the moment, it's great to see them dong so well. They're one of the big ones for us.

Anything you would like to say to your fans?

Just that we're really looking forward to getting over to WA. We came last year and loved it so we're really excited to get there again and play more shows.