If applying overly sentimental statements to the likes of Two Door Cinema Club, the phrase “what a difference a year makes” immediately springs to mind. After all, within only 12 short months, the Belfast-based three-piece have gone from paying their dues at intimate nightclubs to selling out vast concerts halls, touring with a brand of determination and relentlessness that’s become crucial to surviving the industry’s recent and heightened sink-or-swim way of thinking.

“The music industry’s changed a lot in recent times, [and] people are having to do a lot of things to get attention and to survive as a band,” lead vocalist Alex Trimble begins. “I think there’s a bit more of a personal touch. There’s a lot more of a connection with bands, and in a way, that kind of takes away a bit of the mystery and [the] magic of the music. But people look at bands in different ways these days – bands are more accessible.”

“I think people are expecting more and more from the live shows,” adds guitarist Sam Halliday. “They want something different, they want to be engaged all the time and not just have to listen. They want to see something that’s new and cool, and it’s hard – you’ve got to think of new ways of doing things. [But] it’s fun to try and expand on what you’re doing in a broader sense.”

Abiding by that mentality, the group’s begun to capitalize on their North American popularity, having recently announced plans to tour alongside Tokyo Police Club this January, which marks their third batch of Canadian dates in less than 10 months. However, with no breaks planned between the tour and the recording of their sophomore album, the band’s jam-packed schedule is merely a testimony to their determination to stay on everyone’s minds.

“We didn’t just want to leave the album [and stop touring],” explains bassist Kevin Baird. “If press started taking off we didn’t want to just disappear and write another album because everyone would just forget about us.”

“[And] you definitely achieve [a fanbase] by having a presence,” he continues. “Like a physical presence – when you come to a city and you come back. And you don’t just wait for the press to build you up so you can sell out the Phoenix and play that as your first show. I think it really helps to spend time in a country and [to] start from the ground up. And that’s what we try to do in every single market that we go to.”

With a steadily increasing presence throughout the world, it’s no surprise that as the listenership of Two Door Cinema Club continues to grow, the band’s been forced to give into genre categorization as a way of reaching new audiences.

“[The genre] matters to other people, it doesn’t matter to us,” maintains Trimble. “We have such an eclectic mix of what [plays] on the bus when we’re touring . . . so to us, genre doesn’t matter. But when we want to reach people, and they want to know what we sound like, they’re going to want comparisons. So we sort of have to dream up things that are similar to what we do to get that message out there and try to get people interested in us.”

“A lot of people don’t know what they’re supposed to like,” adds Baird. “They’ll hold off for the first few months on a campaign because they’re not sure if they’re supposed to like this band, and then they’ll wait until it’s really obvious before they’ll even [openly support them].

But with support not a problem and an album that’s withstood the test of time and cynicism, the only label left to dodge is “buzz band” – a title Halliday feels the group is exempt from.

“I think we’ve been around long enough not to be an it-band,” he states. “The record’s done well on its own without any press and stood up for itself.”

“As long as we can maintain a position where we’re comfortable and making enough money to continue touring and continue to live a comfortable life, that’s all we want,” he adds. “Obviously, we want more attention, we want more people to hear our music, but if that doesn’t bring a whole lot more money, that’s not important to us. As long as we can get by on what we’re doing.”