The last time we spoke to guitarist Ross Millard, he and his other Futureheads cohorts were preparing to play last year's Clapham Weekender festival.

Back then they weren't gigging very much and spending most of their time in the studio working on their fourth album but oh how times change.

In the last six months the Sunderland four-piece have twice toured America, done all the summer festivals, toured Europe in support of Linkin Park and are now setting off on a UK tour which includes arena dates supporting Biffy Clyro - oh and they released that album they were working on, The Chaos.

"It's been busy this year which is good with the album coming out," says Millard ahead of playing New Slang for a third time on Thursday.

"With it coming out on your own label you measure your achievements differently, the way musicians quantify their success now has changed.

"The music industry is struggling to sell records but we are reaping the rewards at the live shows.

"If you get on stage and people know the songs that's the reward.

"The States was excellent and we did it in two parts this time either side of the summer festivals here.

"Then in Europe we spent the first two weeks supporting Linkin Park in those super arena shows and it was fantastic.

"You wouldn't normally put our two bands together but they asked for us and there is no doubt it was great playing in front of 20,000 German kids.

"We didn't get much time to socialise with them as they based themselves out of Berlin but when we did they were good guys."

This year marks a decade since Millard, David Craig and Barry and Dave Hyde formed the band and they've decided to mark it in a very special way, avoiding the normal greatest hits cliche.

"We have got in touch with four British artists and asked if they would like to reinterpret the covers of our four records, a bit like the Penguin books redesigning all their classic novels," says Millard.

"We wanted to do something that was a little different to celebrate without making it too sentimental and releasing a greatest hits.

"To us it is quite incredible we have been playing for 10 years, it feels more like five minutes in a lot of ways.

"It's a charity project too with all the proceeds going to St Oswald's Hospice in the North East.

"Once we have got Christmas out of the way we are also going to start making an a capella record.

"It's something we have wanted to do for a while as we have never made a full record without guitars, drums and amps and just vocals.

"It's a bit of a change but we have made four records and want to do something different.

"We love making music together but there needs to be a change and something that takes us out of ourselves."

And Millard became the latest in a long line of bands of late to heap praise on New Slang promoters Banquet Records.

"We love Kingston, it's such a magnificent thing that is going on down there," he said."

"The record shop had cultivated this great sense of music community.

"In Sunderland we had a sense of that atmosphere where kids would go out and see bands they had never heard of out of loyalty to the promoter or record shop.

"They trusted them and that is the case with Kingston I think, it's a really special place for indie rockers."

The Futureheads, New Slang, The Hippodrome, St James Street, December 2, 9pm, £7. Visit newslangkingston.co.uk.