5 secs rock top spot

THEY CALL ON MUSIC HEROES TO BAG N0 1 HIT

5 SECONDS Of Summer just landed their fourth UK No1 album and it’s partly thanks to two rock legends.

The Edge from U2 and Rage Against The Machine’s Tom Morello both feature on the quartet’s chart-topping C A L M.

So how did four Aussie lads secure such prestigious guitarists on their LP?

Guitarist Michael Clifford explained all: “Our producer Andrew Watt is respected in the rock community and he’s friends with all of those guys and he really backed our band.

“I think he was working on the Ozzy Osbourne record Ordinary Man at the time and he said, ‘They’re massive fans of you guys. Would you be down to play a little session in a song?’

“It was cool to get that support. Over the years, we’ve had the opportunity to work with some of our biggest inspirations in music, so this is just another bucket-list thing that we’ve checked off.”

With or without, no pun intended, the help of U2 members, C A L M was always going to be a hit. But 5SOS are trying out new styles on the LP too. Michael agreed: “It was important to have the spirit of our old records, but we wanted to go forward with a new sound.

“There are four separate people in this band and so we wanted to create something that was super-unique and meaningful to all of us and our fans.”

5SOS have been going for more than 10 years and their audience has grown up with them.

“Our whole goal when we first started the band was to be heard by as many different people as possible,” said Michael.

“It was all about, ‘How can we get the most people to hear what we’re singing about?’”

Incredibly, the band get on better than ever…most of the time.

“For how long we’ve been together and how much time we’ve spent in such close proximity, we’re still all just like brothers,” added Michael.

“If one of us has a strong opinion about something, we always hear them out. We don’t fight that much. I can’t even remember the last time we had a fight.”