FOR Danny Wilson, frontman of Danny and the Champions of the World, writing the band’s latest album Brilliant Light has been an inspirational experience.

Previous albums in the band’s back catalogue have primarily been penned by Danny alone but for the new album he turned to his bandmates for help.

“Normally the band are given CDs of things and then everyone picks things apart which I didn’t want,” said Danny. “I wanted everything to be fresh.”

To achieve this he set aside for days in the studio every month for a year and encouraged all the band to bring something to the sessions.

“We’d recorded all the new material, all the new ideas that everyone came up with and then put them in a box and would go home and carry on writing for the next month,” he said.

“The nice thing was that everyone got creative, even the chaps who haven’t necessarily been like that in the past.”

The results led to Brilliant Light, a swaggering, cinematic double album full of soulful rock and roll, country-tinged blues and sweeping, personal songs.

“If you are trying to write with people you don’t know there are inhibitions,” said Danny. “You don’t want to lay your heart on the line but as everyone knows the best songs are about hearts on the line.

“So with the band it was easier to write. I basically said ‘if you have genuine idea that you believe in, bring it to me and we’ll write it and record it’ and that’s what happened.

“Some of the things were incredibly surprising but it’s nice to be creative with your friends at an age where people often hang up their creativity.”

The band formed 10 years ago after Danny left his previous outfit Grand Drive and they have gained a cult following ever since both for the albums and energetic live shows.

“What has happened over the last few years with me is that I’ve become entirely fearless,” said Danny. “Fearless of live performance and recording - I’ve got nothing to lose. I love doing it and the only way you can get the results I want are by throwing yourself on the line and doing it. Encouraging the guys to be the same has been inspiring for me too.”

Danny’s approach to his music is both refreshing and surprising.

“I don’t consider what I do any higher kind of art than a guy who makes cabinets,” he said. “I have my tools and this is what I do.

“People say is this best album you’ve made but you know what? I don’t know and don’t care. It’s the new one but they are all your children, you don’t like one more than others just because it’s new.”

Danny’s love for making music is both infectious and genuine.

“If you had told me when I was 16 this is what my life would become I would have bitten your hand off,” he said.

“You can get caught up worrying about whether an album will be a commercial success or whatever. But none of that really matters.

“ I’m still here, still passionate and I still love it so you put all those other things aside and just do it.”

Danny and the Champions of the World, Soup Kitchen, Manchester, Friday, September 15. Details from www.seetickets.com