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You’ve been rehearsing for your forthcoming live shows recently. How is it going?

Fear Of Music's Jo Rose

"It’s going really, really well. We’re taking a bit of a break over the next couple of days because we’ve been doing so much that we’ve started to pull the motions a bit. I’m also taking some time to get some writing done and to find my muse."

How is the album coming on?

"It’s interesting as I’ve not made an active decision to push things in a new direction, but it has done that organically. I’ve made a lot of changes to our sound, in the way I write songs and lyrics, that I wouldn’t have expected, and that’s partly to do with wanting to do something more interesting with the record and partly to do with the music, films and books I’ve been surrounding myself with."

You’ve been working with Placebo and Horrors producer Dimitri Tikovoi. Has that experience changed your writing?

Fear Of Music

"Yes, I think once you realise the process of recording, which is very different from playing live, you can understand how to come to a better end product. There’s something about the way that Dimitri works that is very attuned to the way that we think about music, and that has improved my songwriting, because it’s given me a better idea of what I’m aiming for."

How good is your songwriting?

"At the minute, I am happy with the songs I’m doing, especially when you consider my age and experience, but I’m really just starting out. Once I think I can really express myself in a way that’s really apt and perfect and true, that’s when I’ll be a successful songwriter.

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"To me, songwriting is a thing that’s really personal, so it’s not something I’m going to judge on the number of records we sell or the reviews that we get, it’ll be on a personal level, where I think that this lyric or this melody is truly representative of who I am and what I’m saying. But I think I’m on the right road.

"On our first EP, there was something very simplistic, and even on this one, you could say the same, but I’m young and I want to write some naïve songs. I have a lot to learn but I’m proud of my work and I think I can write songs as well as people who’ve been in the trade a lot longer."

You are only 18 but Fear of Music have been making waves for a while now. Has it been frustrating waiting to get to the point of recording an album?

"There have been moments of impatience but I’m really glad it’s taken me so long to get to this point. I started being in bands when I was 10 and Fear Of Music formed when I was 13, and then it was still four years after that when we could actually go and play proper gigs in some places!

Jo in a younger Fear of Music (Shirlaine Forrest)

"But it was never really the intention to get a record deal. I did it because I enjoyed it, so I wasn’t waiting for anything. It’s been complicated with us leaving school and doing the band full time, but that means we’ll make a much better album than we would have done if we’d tried to plunge into it two years ago."

Given the time you’ve already spent in the musical consciousness of Manchester, do you feel a pressure to succeed?

"I suppose I do, but success is a difficult thing to quantify. Aside from wanting to be financially comfortable, our aim isn’t to be a huge band, but one that means something to people.

"I’ve been in a couple of situations where someone has said to me that our music has touched them and, without wanting to be corny, that’s what I’m in this for. If I can have that effect on as many people as possible, that’s what I term success.

"As much as sales are important, because there’s no escaping that the industry sees success as being, to me, it’s really about having an effect on someone, be that through empathy or excitement or whatever. That’s what music should be about."

Fear Of Music's We Are Not The Enemy EP is out on Faster Music on Monday 12 February. The band support Mute Math at the Roadhouse on Sunday 18 February. Tickets are £7.