With all the unbelievably exciting musical fireworks exploding every which way at the moment it may be easier than usual for some bands to get lost in the stratosphere of sounds into which they are launching. A band that this will certainly not happen to however is Cheshire come London's Hill Valley High who's exuberant and uplifting mix of euphoric melodies and evocative sounds that seem to recall the best of times is so good that this writer has had certain songs of their's on repeat for an indeterminable amount of time now. We thought there's a good chance this is going to be the same case for a whole lot of you too so we caught up with guitarist Joe Mason to introduce the band to a whole new wave of Highers.

R13: How and when did Hill Valley High come to be? Who and what were some of the key influences on your sound?
JM: I guess the start of Hill Valley High was years ago with Phil [Marsh, vocals] and Olly [Holmes, guitar] writing in Olly's bedroom. The rest of us joined around 2008 to create HvH, we started playing a few local shows and it quickly became serious in the Summer of 2009 when we were asked to go out to Brazil to tour for a few weeks after a campaign from fans on Myspace. I don't think we've really looked back since then! Our influences vary so much when we come to writing, recently we've all been listening to bands like Don Broco, Mallory Knox, All Time Low and You Me At Six but I think one of the best things is that we're also still influenced now by the bands that inspired us 5 years ago, like Blink 182, New Found Glory and Busted.

R13: Your songs possess a really brilliant exuberance and vitality that feels very endearing, was this something you particularly aimed to capture upon forming the band?
JM: It sounds simple but we've always tried to write what we enjoy and in a strange way try and show our personalities through the music. There's always a personal meaning behind the lyrics for one of us, it can often be really obvious or sometimes subtle but I think that personal touch comes through when people listen to it.

R13: Is it right that you've gone through some line-up changes since your formation? What is the current line-up of the band?
JM: Yeah, I think for any band starting out during those college/university years there's bound to be some line-up changes. We've really developed our sound over the past few years and the line-up has had to adapt to suit it, we're still good friends with everyone who's been a part of it, it's kind of something that's naturally had to happen as we've progressed. The current 4 of us have been in HvH since Brazil which is Phil (Vox) Olly (Guitar) Scott a.k.a Finch (Bass) and myself, Joe (Guitar) .

R13: There's a strong dual-vocal aspect underpinning some of your songs, would you say this is an important part of the HvH sound and is it something you're looking to expand upon? Have you been influenced by bands such as Taking Back Sunday?
JM: Me and Phil studied Music at Chester Uni and we were constantly learning harmonies and overlapping vocal melodies, because we were singing together all the time, at uni and in rehearsal rooms it became natural to introduce it into HvH. The 4 of us will often work on vocal parts before even picking up instruments which has become an integral part of writing new songs.

R13: Tell us about the awesome songs available on your website such as 'All Fall Down' and 'Won't Be The Last Time'. When were these recorded and which would you say is a particularly good introduction to the band?
JM: We recorded these tracks last year and then decided to give them away for free on-line because we wanted people to hear them. We recorded the music video to All Fall Down which got a great reaction on Scuzz. I think if you haven't listened to any of our music before then Move Closer is a great first track to listen to, it's still one of our favourites to play live! We've just finished recording the video for it so it should be available to watch very soon!

R13: You recorded some of them with [Hundred Reasons guitarist] Larry Hibbitt, how was that experience? Are you big Hundred Reasons fans?
JM: Larry's a great guitarist and producer and has really helped us develop our sound in the studio. Finch is a big Hundred Reasons fan and has been known to occasionally have a little 'fan girl' moment to himself but other than that it's become the norm, he's a good mate of ours now and we all love working with him.

R13: Are these songs coming out as a planned release?
JM: Yeah, Atticus are releasing our 6 track mini album which will be available to buy on-line, this is set to come out around March and will feature the 6 tracks we've recorded with Larry to date. We recently gave the songs away for free on-line but we're looking forward to having a finished product for people to take home.

R13: You've been working hard on the touring circuit over the past few years, what have been some of your favourite experiences? What's the plan for touring throughout 2013?
JM: The tour in Brazil goes without saying I reckon, it's up there for all of us but since then we've played some awesome shows with bands like Mayday Parade and We Are The Ocean. The Summer we did the festival circuit with Red Bull Bedroom Jam was an amazing experience as well, we shared it with bands like Page 44, The Hype Theory and Acoda and have some memories that will haunt us for years to come....

R13: Is there a plan for a full-length at some point soon?
JM: At the moment we're kind of just concentrating on writing new stuff and getting in the rehearsal rooms to bring it to life. I guess after we've pushed out the mini album the aim is to start putting together a full length, we don't want to rush into though because we want it to be good... like, really good!

The songs in question can be downloaded on HvH's official website here and can be streamed here. Go and do this right now, they're brilliant and free, no excuse! And be sure to pick up a copy of the band's EP when it's released in March, more news to come we're sure from the HvH camp over the coming months. Huge thanks to Joe for chatting, we can't wait to hear what's next!

Here's the video for recent single All Fall Down too: