London based five-piece, The Chap, are very much interested in running your senses through an endurance test. Their latest album, Mega Breakfast, is not an immediate attraction. It plays out like a Monty Python sketch (like the Fish Slapping Dance) you're seeing for the first time and just can't get your head around. After a few more listens, the absurd pop vibe shines through and wins you over. Mega Breakfast taps into various genres allowing this band to go insane with us for forty minutes, I suggest trying on the straight jacket. HEAVE recently had a chance to talk with drummer Keith Duncan.

HEAVE: Please tell us about the writing process for these songs, where was your head at, was it medicated?

Keith Duncan: We write a lot of bad music, filter out the good bits and keep cooking until the tracks are ready. Definitely not medicated. Writing a song is like driving a car. Party on!

HEAVE: I keep coming back to "Caution Me", it's a great dance track. Could you tell us about this song please?

KD: "Caution Me" started in the rehearsal studio from one of our jams. It's kind of motorik? And it ends in a swamp of white noise. It was really, really difficult to write, and has a very serious message.

HEAVE: Your live shows are said to be legendary, could you tell us about the most fun you've ever had on stage?

KD: Well Hamburg a couple of weeks ago was pretty fun. Tiny room, tiny PA, 70 hardcore fans that refused to let us leave the "stage". And then hours of Germans saying it was the greatest show they'd ever seen. I guess that was pretty fun.

HEAVE: What are some of your prized possessions in your music gear arsenal?

KD: Oh that's easy, we all have white Macbooks. We feel like clones but they're definitely a lot better than bloody Windows. Plus we all feel more compatible with each other now. And that can't be a bad thing.

HEAVE: The video for "Fun and Interesting" helps me work up a sweat while sitting down, what was the concept with this one?

KD: Yeah, to exercise without doing any exercise. It was all Adam Lieber's (the director) idea. It was supposed to be very voyeuristic and about vanity, but I think in the end it looks like an advert for a gym! Which really still works with the song, as we were trying to create a corporate anthem to rally the office troops. It was a fun process, making that video. Panos and I were at the shoot, hiding out of shot behind walls and clapping in time with the music to get the athletes to jog to the beat.

HEAVE: Please design the perfect touring van that would help The Chap achieve greatness on the road.

KD: Our new van, Big Brenda, is pretty much our perfect touring van. It's a 12-year-old Mercedes Sprinter with 420,000 miles on the clock. For years we had an old Royal Mail van called Boris, which was very slow, very noisy and very uncomfortable. We still loved it dearly. I can't speak for the others, but I had many a nightmare about poor old Boris being mutilated by mechanics. We're only halfway through moving the mega stereo over from the old van. Then it'll definitely be perfect!

HEAVE: Are there any hidden messages on Mega Breakfast you'd care to reveal to our readers?

KD: So many. Haven't you noticed them yet? For example, in the Carlos Walter Wendy Stanley track, we reference the Momus debacle, by quietly chanting "Momus" all the way through the song. And I'm not even going to go near the hidden messages in the cover.

HEAVE: Are fans of The Chap as rowdy as the characters portrayed on that show Skins? I've been getting into that show lately and British teenagers must not care about transmitting diseases to each other.

KD: Haven't seen Skins, but having toured the UK enough, I can confirm British teenagers do not care about transmitting diseases to each other. It's good to share. You know, like Myspace and that. Anyway, the Europeans have proved themselves even more rowdy than the British in the last few days, especially the French in Metz. They may not puke as much as the British, but if falling on each other, shouting (no, screaming!) and singing count, they definitely have the edge.

HEAVE: Who in the band is most likely throw a fist when the band has an argument?

KD: That'll be Panos. He nearly decked someone for hassling us on stage in Liege last night. But we'd never come to blows within the band. There's just too much love.

HEAVE: Finally, the scenario is this - The Chap and HEAVEmedia are on their first date in your home town, what do we do for fun, how do you win my love?

KD: Oh, maybe a walk in Hackney Marshes, quick trip to the local cinema, some quality Turkish food, a few beers at the Salisbury, and a crazy gig at Club Motherfucker. Not necessarily in that order.

HEAVE: Current fascinations - music?

KD: Dirty Projectors, Supertramp, Nik Kershaw, Steely Dan, Beatle Barkers, Anne Clark.

HEAVE: Film?

KD: The Five Obstructions, No Country for Old Men, Die Hard 4.0, Entr'acte.

HEAVE: TV?

KD: Eastenders, The Wire, The Kingdom, The Cold War.

HEAVE: Books?

KD: "The Woodcutters" (Thomas Bernhard), "Why I Am Not A Christian" (Bertrand Russell), "Hit Men: Powerbrokers and Fast Money Inside the Music Business" (Frederic Dannen).

HEAVE: Food?

KD: Asian. Just can't get any good Asian food on tour in Europe, which is something good about heading home to London. In fact the main reason we tour is for great food. On that front, this tour has been a fucking disaster. I guess we were just really lucky in previous years.