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With a number one single and album under their belt this year, Years & Years are one of the British music industry’s biggest breakout successes of 2015. That’s why we’ve named them the inaugural recipients of our Music Award, and found time in their busy schedules between tours to arrange a photo shoot and interview, the full results of which can be found inside the new Men of the Year special December/January issue of Winq, out now in print and digital formats.

We chatted to frontman Olly Alexander, whose coming-out early this year saw him embraced by the gay community as one of our own, and bandmates Emre Türkmen and Mikey Goldsworthy to find out how they’re handling the success and media attention, and what’s next for the chart-topping three-piece.

Olly, on being adopted as a spokesperson for the LGBT community: “The gay community is so diverse and intersectional, and one person, obviously, can’t speak for the multitude of experiences and issues that face the community. But also, the problem is that we don’t have enough spokespeople – or not even spokespeople, but enough representation – in mainstream culture, it’s really just one type of gay guy, you know what I mean?”

Mikey, on their Communion‘s broad appeal: “It’s so weird. I always thought of us as ‘alternative’, in my head, like ‘This is quite left-wing.’ I never expected it to be played on Radio 1, and then for ‘King’ to be number one… It was weird. If I had heard 10 years ago, when I was in metal bands, that I’d be making music that mums would listen to, I’d have been like ‘That’s not cool.‘”