"There's a point, when you're in a certain headspace, where you feel you can actually do anything we want to do, and not really have any preconception about it," says Nick Hallam. And for him and his long-time Stereo MCs partner, Rob Birch, their journey into sound has been constantly defined by the battles they've had to fight for creative freedom - not with record companies or industry figures, but from the pressures they put themselves under. To many pop fans, the Stereos are the group who burned bright in the early '90s, when their third LP, Connected, won two Brit Awards and shifted millions of copies, and who then disappeared for the next decade. But as their new album, The Emperor's Nightingale, suggests, the true story is much more complicated - and far more fascinating - than that. Hallam and Birch became Britain's first global rap stars, paving the way for the Plan Bs and Dizzee Rascals. Appearing live with everyone from U2 to the Happy Mondays, from Living Color and Peter Gabriel to Jane's Addiction and De La Soul, the Stereos were exceptions to every rule. 20 years after the release 'Connected' they are finally doing what they'd wanted all along - allowing hip hop's liberating philosophy to help them make music that obeys no rules but their own. Freed from the pressure to rap simply because it's expected, Rob sings on the record, much of which was written not how the Stereos have usually worked, by building up grooves from sampled loops and beats, but from old-school jam sessions, with bass, guitar, drums and vocals all playing together until they find a common thread. It's a sound that will surprise those who think they know what the Stereos are all about. Fans who've grown up with Rob and Nick, and shared some of their adventures through sound, the record will feel like the next logical step forward for a band who've only ever been about making music that's true to hip hop's sense of limitless creativity and do-what-feels-right spirit. "We've really had to re-learn how to make music," Rob admits. "But when you actually start to see some progress, and hear yourself making some sounds that you've never made before, your enthusiasm really starts to generate again. And then you get a grip on it, and you start to see what you can do. It's like we're not really in the dark any more."