More about: Hurts

"The difference between not doing something and doing something, is doing something" beams Hurts frontman Theo Hutchcraft when quizzed on the best piece of advice that he's ever received. This is a sentiment they should understand more than anyone. They started as two hard-up, jobless hopefuls, scraping by as they made music in a run-down Manchester high-rise. Now, they're a global pop-noir phenomenon.

Watch our video interview with Hurts below

But how do you drag yourself from the bottom to the top? Well, the best tip is often to reduce yourself to rubble, and rebuild.

"I always think that the best piece of advice that Hurts ever got given, was from before Hurts began," says Adam Anderson on synth and guitar. "I'll always remember it. There was a guy from a record label who came to see us, which at that time was very exciting.

"We had this one song that he loved, we played the set and afterwards I went up and said 'what did you think of the set'? He said 'there was three minutes of good music, the rest you just need to throw away and start again'."

Watch our video interview with Hurts below

Anderson adds: "I was the most crushed that I've ever been. I was so disappointed. The next day I realised he was right. We chucked away all of those songs, wrote some better ones. I always think it's really valuable to have someone who speaks honestly to you to say 'look, this isn't right'. "

MORE: Watch Hurts discuss their new album and the 'danger' of pop music here

Hurts release their third album Surrender on 9 October

Listen to their new track 'Lights' below

More about: Hurts