Andy Burrows: “It’s been a really uplifting experience”

When most people take to Twitter after having a few drinks, it can lead to all sorts of trouble.

But thank God that Andy Burrows threw caution to the wind and did just that.

The former Razorlight sticksman sent a message to best-selling author Matt Haig.

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“I was away on tour with Tom Odell as his drummer, and after getting a bit tiddly in the Ukraine, I decided to message Matt,” Andy explained, when I caught up with him for a chat.

“I was trying to think of a reason to make a new album of my own, something a bit different.

“I noticed that he had started following me on Twitter. It was all very modern, very modern – I slid into his DMs!

“I woke up to a really lovely message saying. ‘This sounds quite interesting, let’s meet up’.

“We finally did and decided to do this album together.

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“And it has been a really great experience – a very uplifting experience to record these songs.

“I found it very cathartic, having found myself feeling quite anxious about things, about life, in the past,” he continued.

“There is a lot of hope, and an acceptance of anxiety. The music and the lyrics all just became very close to my heart.

“The reasons Matt’s words rang so true to me is that the darkness of life is so important to filter and take on board and put back out – but these songs all have a trim of colour and optimistic flare.”

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Reasons To Stay Alive, released on yesterday (February 1), is the collaboration between the two which took inspiration from Haig’s much loved books including Reasons to Stay Alive and How to Stop Time, with words by Haig and music by Burrows.

The album also features some special guests.

“We have Dom Howard, the drummer in Muse, who brings a rock sound to some tracks,” Andy continued.

“Dom and I have been close friends for years having met Dom when Razorlight went out on tour with his band in 2005.

“Keith Murray from We Are Scientists is on the same song on lead guitar.

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“If only I’d managed to get Tom Smith from the Editors then that would have been my all-time supergroup!

“It worked out quite well.”

The album is out in a matter of weeks, and we’ve already had a taster of what’s to come with the release of Barcelona, a catchy song that wouldn’t be out of place on a summer roadtrip mix tape.

‘Can I go back back before this panic attack’ sings Andy, which hints at a vulnerability encased in the passionate and intense melody.

And Andy isn’t nervous about it’s release...

“I’m looking forward to it,” he said. “It will be great to get it out there and share it with people.

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“It seems such a long time since we first sat down together to discuss the album.

“You learn to take what you can from things and just enjoy the moment as it happens.

“I get to head out on the road with this album as well, where I’ll be playing songs from Reasons To Stay Alive and tracks from my previous albums.

“I enjoy the process of deciding what songs to include and what to cut and writing up the final set list,” He said.

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“Glasgow’s King Tuts is just an amazing venue as well, so I’m really looking forward to playing there again.

“It will be a really great night – I just hope that everybody else thinks so too!”

I’m sure it will be a cracker, Andy...

• Andy Burrows performs songs from Reasons To Stay Alive as well as his own solo material at Glasgow King Tuts on Wednesday, February 13. For tickets, visit www.ticketmaster.co.uk.

• Reasons To Stay Alive is out now.