Did you expect the album to have that great success?

Leigh: When we recorded the album we wanted to make an album that we were really happy with, that was representative of our collective influences. We were hoping that if we really liked the album and enjoyed listening to it and that other people would share our taste in music! Luckily this seems to be the case throughout Europe which is a good feeling - the album is selling well and although we're not a household name we're successfully breaking into the rock/metal market.

Are there differences between national and international reactions?

Leigh: So far so good both nationally and internationally! The reaction to the album has been great both in the UK and Europe - Germany has been especially good for us, we've had over 40 reviews of the album now and only 3 have been approaching bad...one reviewer loved thrash/death metal and said we were musically too slow & I didn't scream enough...I think he missed the point but on the next album I might stick the odd death grunt in ;-) It's always great to hear what other people think of the album and the one thing that has struck us is that nobody can pin our sound down, there are some common names that crop up but on the whole reviewers can't pin us and many have reported us as having an original sound - that's a reaction we're extremely happy with!

has there already been a great or at least a show worth to be mentioned?

Leigh: We recently returned from our first european tour supporting US doom/hard rock legends TROUBLE, every show on the tour was special, we got a great reaction every night and met so many new friends of the band. TROUBLE themselves were super nice guys and this helped make the tour as a whole a great experience. The last night of the tour in Hamburg was my favourite RTA show and I'll never forget it.

Which are your main idols?

Leigh: I'm not sure I really have idols as such but I do have people who I respect for their talent and work - one of my favourite vocalists is Layne Staley from Alice In Chains, the guy had an immense voice before he got ill, I also think Doug Pinnick from King's X is incredibly talented and Lajon Witherspoon from Sevendust has a great voice and uses it to great effect. I'd love to share the stage with the latter two at some point in RTA's career! I've always had a soft spot for Steven Tyler as well - the ultimate showman!

How came you had the chance getting produced by Andy Sneap?

Leigh: Andy is good friends with Steve and John having worked on 4 albums with their previous band and he also produced the RTA 3 track EP we used to shop to the industry. Andy came and saw us live when we played the main stage at Bloodstock in 2005 and the following Monday rang Steve and asked when we wanted to start recording the album! We jumped at the chance as Andy is such a great producer!

How has it been? What kind of experience was it?

Leigh: It was a great experience working with Andy. From my own point of view being interested in recording there were some great things I picked up from the process. We did things differently from most bands - Andy recorded only the drums and we did all the rest of the tracking in our own studio. We then went back to Andy, while he had some studio time free between Cradle of Filth and Megadeth to mix the whole thing. We're very happy with how the album turned out and would love to work with Andy again on Album number two.

how comes Bruce Dickinson knows you?

Leigh: Bruce was sent a copy of the album and really liked the stuff, enough to play it on his BBC Radio 6 Rockshow! It's great that such a well respected genuine 'rock star' likes our stuff, we've all been massive Maiden fans for years so it makes it all the sweeter! We keep getting played on the show, which is great, long may it continue!

do you have also personally contact to him?

Leigh: I've spoken to the rockshow team to thank them for their support and they've passed a cool message of support onto us which is great but we don't have Bruce's mobile number just yet!

...and there is no danger your own succes rises to addiction? (meaning you keep standing on the ground, ain't you?)

Leigh: Our feet are firmly planted! We know we've lots of hard work to do and we're happy to do it, any success we have is great as it makes being a struggling musician easier! We love to make music and that's the main thing, there's no egos in this band and any success we do have we really appreciate.

Which tours or festivals are planned?

Leigh: We've got two big festivals lined up over the summer, the first is the MOTONÁLET Festival in the Czech Republic on 04/08/07. It's a massive biker festival and we're really looking forward to it - it'll be RTA's first time in Cz! We're also playing Bloodstock Open Air in the UK on 18/08/07, theres some great bands playing including IN FLAMES, LACUNA COIL, ARCH ENEMY, TESTAMENT and we'll be catching up with Andy (Sneap) because Sabbat are following us on the main stage! We're then looking to tour throughout October and November and will hopefully make it back over to Europe. There's also going to be a big promotional push for the album's release in the US at the end of October.

Finally thanks for the interview and much success in the future!