Florence And The Machine set recording date

Florence And The Machine are to start record their album in "April or May".

The 'Dog Days Are Over' group have been writing their second album since autumn last year, and guitarist Rob Ackroyd said the group are now poised to enter the famous Abbey Road studio in London where The Beatles recorded much of their material.

He said: "Work on the second album has begun with producer Paul Epworth and there is talk of booking out Abbey Road for a month in April or May to record. Which is nice."

The musician also revealed that while he and group leader Florence Welch see eye to eye on most musical genres, but finds himself at odds when it comes to her taste in mainstream songs.

He added to Gibson.com: "Florence's and my taste in music often overlap in harmonious fashion; we're both big fans of hip-hop and American indie.

"But she's also a big fan of unadulterated pop music, which cuts through me like a knife."

The guitarist - who has also recently been working with Pixie Geldof, daughter of former Boomtown Rats frontman Bob Geldof on her new band Violet - also told how he had managed to meet his rock guitar hero through playing with the machine.

He added: "I think people like Guns n' Roses guitarists Izzy Stradlin and Slash really glamorised the guitar for me when I was a kid. In the early '90s it seemed like every weekend was Guns N' Roses weekend on MTV and I was galvanized by Slash.

"I kind of fulfilled my dream of meeting Slash last summer when Florence And The Machine shared a festival bill with him."