Wheel on a roll

's Chrome.

Turns out the British band was just on a collision course with self-discovery, as heard on their new release Happy Days.

"It's certainly the most ambitious record we've made," Catherine Wheel singer-guitarist Rob Dickinson says of the new disc. "We'd never felt more confident, going into making a record. After basically two or three years of hard touring, the band was freed from the shackles of trying to please other people.

"When a band has played enough, it becomes its own band. And, whether you like it or not, you're left with something that's intrinsically a product of the people in the band.

"We were really happy with what we were left with."

Not only did the Happy Days sessions help the band find themselves musically, they also gave insight into new components of the Catherine Wheel.

"Part of us is quite an aggressive rock band," Dickinson says. "But there's a constant battle between the loud side and the delicate, sort of melancholy side of what we do. I think that provides the music with a tension that, I hope, is unique."

Indeed, with the lead-off single Way Down, which has already garnered its fair share of airplay, Catherine Wheel have evidently embraced tense alternative rock.

But subtle nuances, thanks in part to former Talk Talk keyboardist and producer Tim Friese-Green, send Happy Days spinning off into various directions, including the airy standout track, Eat My Dust You Insensitive F---.

"Talk Talk's Spirit Of Eden, I'd say, is probably, collectively, the band's favorite album," Dickinson explains. "I feel that the territories they were going to for those final albums was quite close to us in terms of mood and melancholy."

But, for Catherine Wheel, that melancholy must share space with sardonic humor and high energy.

"I was determined that we weren't going to make a one-dimensional album. Anyone who's seen us play live will understand why the first half of the album sounds as heavy as it does.

"But we've grown dependent on having what I think is the typical English, sarcastic sense of humor," Dickinson continues.

"It led to contradictions on the album. Way Down reflects that kind of self-destructive streak that I think we all try to suppress. Eat My Dust - though it sounds sad - contradicts that because it is an extremely positive song, an ode to self-proclamation: When you're feeling underappreciated, but know exactly how strong you are, and if other people don't get it, well, that's their problem."

What else can one expect from a band named for both a spiked, spinning medieval weapon and a colorful pinwheel fireworks display?

Says Dickinson: "It's like when I was talking about making an ambitious record. We knew we had that diversity in us, but it was a question of working hard to make sure both ends of the spectrum fit harmoniously."