As they gear up for the release of their latest EP and another heavy round of gigs we caught up with Glaswegian rockers Anavris.

You first came to our attention through the Emergenza Scotland Battle of the Bands competition.  How have things gone since then?

Big Chris: I think we learned a lot from the festival and had the chance to play to a sold out Carling academy at such a young age.  I think we were 16/17 when we did it.

Neil: Things have been going great since then. We’ve done a couple of EPs and are certainly a lot more clued up on the music industry than we used to be.  We also have a totally different line up!

Was it worth entering?

Big Chris: It was definitely, as I was saying we learned a lot.  It’s not something we would do now as we approach the band in a different light now but it was worth it at the time.

Neil: Yeah definitely, we met a lot of great bands and got to play to huge audiences.

What’s going on for Anavris in 2009?

Big Chris: We have a new record coming out and we're gonna be touring it loads.

Neil: We're very excited about the new EP coming out.  It will no doubt put us on to bigger things.

What’s the Scottish music scene like at the moment?

Big Chris: In a lot of places its great and a lot of places it’s a bit rubbish, coz some cities are a bit spoilt for choice when it comes to live shows. What we do is tour everywhere even where it’s harder and I think it’s paying off.

Neil: The Scottish scene is great once you’re out of Glasgow (joke)

What’s the scene like in Glasgow?

Big Chris: It’s hard work, it can be hard because there are so many divisions/scenes that people tend to stick to what they know and what we do as a band is just do what we want to do, but again that’s paying off. On the whole it is great and there is so many good bands coming out of Glasgow/Scotland.

Neil: it is actually a great scene, though it’s not like some other towns where you play and everyone and their dog comes to see you. You have to work hard to get people to go to your gig, there’s so many gigs going on every day it’s making the punter pick yours that’s the hard part.

So it’s not an easy place to play?

Big Chris: NO, if you’re rubbish they'll tell you.

You’ve just recorded a new EP.  What’s it called?

Big Chris: It’s called "11 eyes of a simple man"

Neil: It’s a long story.  Basically throughout the process we were haunted by the number 11.  It was popping up everywhere so we thought it we should include the number in the title.

Who did you work with on it?

Big Chris: Jason Wilcock  who’s worked with bands such as Reuben/Fightstar/You Me At Six