Ryan Cobb, one half of Philadelphian sibling rock act Mad Action, who play Fibbers in York on Tuesday (27th)

Didn't you play York earlier this year?

"We played there in March or April at Fibbers: the place with the low ceiling. I remember I went to the Pizza Hut around the corner. We hung large!"

Your return coincides with this month's release of your new album, And Begin, on which you worked with the Lightning Seeds' Ian Broudie. How did a Liverpudlian come to produce an American band's album?

"It was time for us to make a record and we were looking at who we wanted to do it with, so we whittled it down to the people we were interested in. When we were in London playing shows or whatever, we sent Ian our CD and he responded really quick, like faster than anybody."

What happened next?

"I talked to him on the phone a bunch of times and then we sat down with him. After working with Paul for years, it's hard to bring in a third person but he understood big time that we wanted our personalities to come through. I felt Ian was a mellow guy who wasn't going to change things but would work with us. We really liked him and once we were in the studio at RAK Studios in London, it was as easy as I hoped it would be. We did it in maybe, like, 17 days, so we finished early."

You could have made it harder by presenting him with all your songs. Apparently when you first visited the Loog Records offices you brought 180 songs.

"It was 200 songs, I'd say. We'd recorded them over maybe four years at our basement studio, and there are probably 200 more we're yet to finish. It's hard to whittle down the choice, so we did a list of about 20, with everyone having their favourites, and between me and Paul and Ian we drew up the final list and started with the most important tunes. We ended up recording 14 and left just one off, Around Your Heart."

Earlier this year you released two EPs on vinyl, Teac Attack and Just Like Fresh Air, with 19 tracks between them. That's more tracks than appear on the album. What's the story?

"They're stuff from my basement and bedroom, and they were only made available in Britain, where they were printed in only, like, 1,000 copies each. But we've used only one of those songs on the album: we took Wheels and did a re-recorded version of that."

Ryan, you are the older brother by one year at 28. Not all brothers in bands live in perfect harmony: witness Ray and Dave Davies of The Kinks, Jim and William Reid in The Jesus and Mary Chain, and the Gallaghers in Oasis. What about the Cobb boys?

"We just kinda have the same musical tastes, and it just kinda works. I couldn't do it with anyone else. No way. There's no arguing between us."

Mad Action and Kasabian play Fibbers, York, on Tuesday. Tickets: £6 advance, £7 door, but the gig is already close to selling out.

Updated: 16:05 Thursday, July 22, 2004