Describing their sound as 'David Icke and Robert Anton Wilson cover early Flaming Lips' (there's a concept for ya), the Mink Stoles are pure cosmic rockers based in Edinburgh. We caught up with Stephen Hill, the band's bassist, for a chat about their upcoming concept EP and that thorny topic: the difference between Edinburgh and Glasgow.

On the future
'We're recording a four-track concept EP based on a story about nuclear world war. We have a fascination with conspiracy theories about secret governments, aliens, and the manipulation of society by the media. It's not really splitting-up-with-your-boyfriend music, plus who doesn't want to listen to songs about reptilian shapeshifters?'

On who does what
'All the lyrics and music have been written by Matt [Grieve], some recently and some as long as 15 years ago. They all develop over time whether in the rehearsal room or on stage and Daniel [Hill] and myself usually tweak or change the drum and bass parts. With the recent addition of Phil, we hope to write more collaboratively in the future.'

On who's killing it
'We've played gigs with lots of extremely talented people, recently with the Wellgreen and Broken by Rock, who are both superb if very different from one another. The Legendary Graeme Mearns Band are magic and we heard a guy called Michael Cochrane during the festival who is a superb singer-songwriter.'

On the Scottish scene
'There are two sides to the coin in Edinburgh. It's based around the Fringe in August: extremely busy, lots of pop-up venues, a great buzz and gigs aplenty. However, the rest of the year can be sparse though certainly not from a lack of talent. Recently we've started playing in Glasgow and getting a great response there from other bands and gig-goers. The scene there is healthier and more consistent at our level. There are more venues and more people attending gigs.'

The Mink Stoles support Cymbals Eat Guitars, Electric Circus, Edinburgh, Tue 7 Feb.