RHUM

The high school band that got noticed by an independent label and thrust into international stardom. Album released and world tour in full swing before they’re hardly out of their teens. Except the label didn’t sign them in a flurry and then dump them when things didn't go to plan. Jamie Smith from The xx tells me someone from the Young Turks label came to one of their gigs, liked what they heard and soon after the label began to book them for shows. Free of charge. They also gave the band free rehearsal space in the building the company shares with XL Recordings. It wasn’t until a year and a half had passed that Young Turks actually signed them. Pretty heartening to find a label willing to give a young band that kind of time to develop.

Jamie, who supplies the band's beats and production, is neither the sullen young artist who resents having to talk to music journalists or the loud mouth entertainer who pours buckets of quotes over your head (lookin' at you John Mayer). He's just a really down to earth young guy. He admits to getting tired on the road sometimes but says he always tries to make an effort to go out after shows to meet people and see a bit of the city they're in. Though apparently the party he went to the night before I spoke to him, some sort of dubstep night, wasn't very good so he went back to the hotel and crashed.

When I ask him about venues he's always dreamed of playing in, it turns out they've already sold out a number of them, some of them more than once. He's enthusiastic, but seems to take these things in his stride, like he's been doing it for 20 years. He tells me he got his first inklings of how much he loved music from listening to his parents old soul records. Combine that with the other members early West Coast hip hop, punk and rock influences, add it up with a bit of Portishead, Tricky and Massive Attack (who they've just found out they're soon to tour with!) and you have a pretty interesting mix to work with.

We talk about the crowd reaction at their shows. It's quite amazing how different the crowds are from city to city, even though they're not that far apart. I guess it's different every night but generally it's been great. I don't think we've ever had a gig where people were just sort of not interested. People are generally really receptive. The band's been together for four years, Jamie's been with them for three. How many bands do you think you could find that couldn't pull out a single lousy gig story from three years of playing? I'd not reckon many. Mate, I could tell you some stories.

Crowds in Berlin have often had a bit of a reputation for being ultra-cool - fair or not - of making bands go to near superhuman lengths to impress them. I ask Jamie what kind of response they've gotten there, He responds excitedly in the city's defence. Berlin has been one of the best places we have ever played. The crowds seem to just go crazy. We never experienced that before. We sold out two shows in one night in Berlin; we had to add another show because we got too many requests. We got to move into a bigger venue. Apparently that was the first time that had happened since New Kids on the Block.

Two shows in one night, how sweet is that! Bet NKOTB couldn't pull that shit now - 40 year old men doing their same old lame old silly dance moves . . . Don't get me started.

Let us end where all good band stories should end. With the backstage rider. I don't think we're a very demanding band, we don't ask for a lot of wacky things on the rider or anything. We did look at Mariah Carey's rider list, but that was just ridiculous!

'What does Mariah Carey ask for?' I ask.

 She asks for a basket of puppies, and the dressing room has to be painted a certain colour. And she has a ridiculous amount of people around her the whole time. So no, we just get healthy food and unhealthy drink. (laughs)

The xx self titled debut is out through Remote Control records.

Read what our RHUM boys had to say about it HERE and HERE : two very different reviews by two very brilliant music nerds.