Chances are, you’ve heard of Scouting For Girls by now. If you haven’t, it’s time to rip your head out of the ice-ages and back into the world of modern music. The London musicians went to number one in the UK album chart this month. Just this week they took it one further when their debut album achieved platinum status. Deservedly so too; they’ve got catchy tunes, energy packed live shows and lopsided grins on their side. Things have come a long way since their days working in Carphone Warehouse and Threshers…

Love them or hate them, you can’t hit an Indie club these days without ‘She’s So Lovely’ and ‘Elvis Ain’t Dead’ ringing in your ears. During a recent chat with Roy, Greg & Pete, we discovered the lads are a top bunch too. We talked Elvis, girls, dodgy MySpace profile pictures and their upcoming UK tour.

One thing’s for sure… if the music side of things falls through, there’s a definite career in comedy for this trio of lifelong friends.

First of all, I have an important question for you. If Elvis isn’t dead, where is he?

Roy: He’s working on the fish counter in Asda in South Harrow.

Any particular reason that he is working down there?

Roy: It’s just a nice place to work.

Your single ‘Elvis Aint Dead’ is doing well. The CD includes a song called ‘You Are Fitter On Your MySpace Page’. Do I detect a past negative experience?

Roy: Well, no one puts a bad picture up on their Facebook or MySpace page. This is actually a story from a friend of mine. He met up with a girl from school that he hadn’t seen for a couple of years. He saw her picture and thought…
Greg: Nice
Roy: But when he met up with her, the picture didn’t tell the whole story.
Pete: So he went home.
Roy: Haha. It is a big rocky number and it is going down really well.

Since you have hit the big time, has the attention from the ladies increased?

Roy: Uhh…
Pete: Not really!
Roy: In a way but when we first toured and we were playing to a hundred people, you could come off stage and go and have a drink with everyone. Now we are playing to a thousand or two thousand; you go on stage and then you come back and everyone has gone! We did get people hanging around after the show the other day.
Pete: But they were all mingers… oh sorry, the ones outside!
Roy: It was really cold and the drummer from the support act came up and said you’re going to have to do something; they have got exams in the morning. So we were there writing signs and telling them to go home.

The last time I say you guys perform it was at the Festival Awards.

Pete: Oh, sorry abut that.

In your opinion, what is the best festival in the UK?

Pete: Glastonbury.
Roy: I have been there every year in the rain…
Greg: If you don’t go it won’t rain.
Roy: I have really enjoyed all the festivals that we played. I like the ones which have a little bit of character but Glastonbury is the daddy of all festivals.
Pete: It is like a little village,
Greg: It’s not really a little village.
Roy: It’s like a city. You know when you walk over that hill and it suddenly confronts you. It’s like…
Greg: Ahhhhhhhh
Roy: Me and my friends, we get to that hill and we have a beer.
Pete: You have a little hug and a little cry.

What is the strangest thing about life in the limelight?

Roy: I don’t know; we are not really in the limelight. Sometimes we get recognized…
Greg: In Tesco.
Roy: We have got a really nice level of success at the moment. We don’t have people following us around but we are still doing some amazing shows.

What is the worst job that you had to do before this?

Pete: I had to work with Greg for two weeks; that was pretty bad.
Greg: I only saw you once though. I kept getting phone calls saying “Have you seen Pete?” I was like, “Uh, no”. You were only working for two weeks and you didn’t turn up for half of it!
Roy: I used to push trolleys at a supermarket – that was pretty bad.

What was the first album that you ever bought?

Roy: Mine was Tears For Fears. I think the next one was Phil Collins.
Greg: That’s a classic. I have no idea. I remember the first CD I ever bought – it was Pearl Jam.

You recently covered a Kylie song. Are you a fan?

Yeah!

The big question is, Kylie or Danni?

Roy: Kylie definitely. He fancies Danni.
Greg: Yeah, but Kylie is lovely too.

Who is the little boy that is singing on your MySpace?

Pete: We don’t know!
Roy: It was from one of our earliest shows at a festival. There was this woman who came to loads of shows before we were signed. We have her son singing along to Elvis
Pete: He tries to sit down half way through but there is somebody going, “Stand up, stand up”.

Who do you most respect and look up to – in your instrumental field?

Roy: My favourite band is R.E.M Everything that that band has done – they are now fifteen albums down the line – has been amazing. They have one of the best voices and an amazing frontman, the best songs…
Greg: …and a wicked bass player.
Roy: Yeah, he looks a bit like Greg!
Greg: Mine would be bass player form Zeppelin. He was awesome – and played a bit of keyboard.

Do you get enough drum solos Pete?

Pete: No, no – we have gone past that stage.
Roy: You have got one.
Pete: Oh, yeah, a little bit. He puts my name in.
Roy: Yeah, I really milk it. “On the drums we have…”

What can we expect throughout 2008?

Greg: More tours; March and April we have our biggest shows to date.
Pete: And hopefully the festivals in the summer time.

I have to ask for the people abroad – any plans to head ‘down under’?

Roy: We would LOVE to go to Australia. I did our first Australian interview the other day. They had to stay up ’til midnight. This girl came over to see us and she followed us around for a bit. She had this petition from three thousand people in Sydney. I’m half Australian.
Greg: Well, look at you.
Roy: Yeah, I would leave you at passport control.

Scouting For Girls release their new single, ‘Heartbeat’ on 7th April through Epic Records.