As a debut performance, playing in front of 3,000 Chinese festival-goers must have been a hair-raising experience, but it one which the reconfigured WorldService Project took in their stride.

Founder, keyboard player and writer Dave Morecroft, along with tenor sax man Tim Ower and trombonist Raphael Clarkson headed to China for an 11-date tour of venues, jazz clubs and festivals over October/ November 2015. Joining them were new members Arthur O'Hara (bass) and Harry Pope (drums).

"China was a rollercoaster ride, but incredible overall," says Morecroft, who is already planning a return trip for later this year. "I took the new lads aside after that gig just to quietly remind them that not all the gigs were going to be like that..."

Formed in the late '00s, WorldService Project (WSP) are typically reviewed as a 'jazz band', but citing such influences as US maverick, Frank Zappa, Russian composer Igor Stravinsky and contemporary British composer Harrison Bertwhistle (famed for his work Panic), alongside the likes of hard bop guru Charles Mingus, the quintet ooze ambition and attitude. Morecroft sums it up as 'punk-jazz'.

"Punk-jazz for me is more a reflection of rebellion," he says of the term. "Maybe it’s jazz but it’s played with an 'f-you' to the establishment/ systems that dictate what jazz is supposed to mean or be."

That attitude is perfectly summed up in WSP's third album, and their first for RareNoiseRecords, For King And Country.

"I wanted For King And Country to be an epic listen, that from moment to moment it could rage intensely, pull at heartstrings, flip in double somersaults around the room or sardonically sneer at the establishment.

"It is an incredibly personal record for me (much more than any other) with true heartbreak, anger, loss, disillusionment, ecstasy and ****-taking a-plenty! But at its heart, I hope, [there is] purity of gesture, intensity and sincerity."

To coincide with the album release, WSP head to Birmingham’s Hare and Hounds after their last trip to the venue, back in 2012, was cancelled due to a nearby fire. Four years on, the band are looking forward to finally getting onto the H&H stage.

“WorldService Project is a very intense, high-energy live show," Morecroft explains. "We throw ourselves into it and hope to come out alive at the other end. And if you're not bleeding by the end of it, you haven't tried hard enough."

WorldService Project play Birmingham's Hare and Hounds on Thursday 5 May.