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Take a look at a picture of Selfservice. Think you know everything you need to just from that? Well think again my friend, because this lot are a powderkeg of explosive surprises. Yes, Self Service are young – not one of them is out of their teens – but these are fully formed rock stars, primed and ready to go.
Yes, well spotted, there are girls in the band, but they're not just there to look pretty, in fact they built the foundations of the group before the boys were allowed anywhere near it. Reckon you know what they'll sound like, do you? Lightweight? Kids' stuff? Wash your mouth out, fool. Selfservice rock like mini-mammoths. This is spunky modern pop rock of the very highest order and they're about to drop it on your life like a sugar bomb… whether you like it or not.
The surprises don't stop there either. Selfservice have been working on their songwriting and production with Guy Chambers – the bloke who helped make Robbie Williams a solo star – but there is no sinister industry puppetry going on. In fact, the band are the ones giving Chambers a hard time. As he puts it: "They're teenagers that I really respect standing up to me and saying 'I don't like this bit', or 'I can't sing that' or 'this bit's boring'. They're not intimidated. I find that great."
"It's really simple," says singer Sophie White. "We can write, and of course so can Guy, and so with all of us working together we can do great things." "You only have to see us live to realise that we're not a manufactured band," adds drummer Flo Arnold. "We can all play our instruments, and play them well. But working with Guy was a great opportunity that we had to take." The band are in no way circumventing the 'dues-paying' phase of the traditional rock band rise to stardom, either. They're currently managing themselves, sending out all their own CDs, making all their own decisions, lugging gear around the UK in shitty vans and on public transport (they recently lugged a drum kit across London in the back of a taxi). Pretty much any assumptions or accusations you can throw at them they'll bat back at you with interest.
There are four distinct characters in the band. Flo is the take-no-nonsense stickswoman, already sick of people questioning her place on the drum stool because of how she looks: "What should it matter whether I'm a boy or a girl? I just like drumming…" she says. Listen to her beating seven shades of crap out of her kit and you realise it doesn't matter a bit. Bassist Ben Hawthorne is the joker of the pack, loving his life, loving this band and infusing the music with a deceptively funky backbone. Guitar player Mark Cooper is affable, funny and with a passion for music that shines through (he'll just as happily talk about metal bands like Trivium as he will Justin Timberlake). He's one hell of a guitar player too – throwing out fizzing riffs and pinpoint leads like he's got an hour to live and wants to see it out in style.
Then there's singer Sophie. In person she's cheeky but sweet. Give her a microphone and she's transformed into a tornado of gobby, naughty lyrics and sharp-as-diamonds melodies, all delivered in a voice that seems way too powerful for someone only just old enough to drink (legally). You only have to glance at those song titles to see where her head's at – 'Girl Love', 'Ride Me', 'Knock-U-Out' – yep, this is one cocksure teenage superstar-in-waiting. Lily Allen meets Shirley Manson, only better. "I have this dream about going on stage at Wembley, and the lights coming up and me diving into the crowd," she laughs. "That's what I'm shooting for here."
There is something brilliantly gang-like about the way Selfservice go about their business. They were all friends in different bands in Bristol before coming together in their current form when Sophie and Flo decided their old bass player and guitarist weren't right for what they wanted to do and invited Mark and Ben to join. The poppier sound of the girls' original line-up soon became something else. "When these guys came in it gave us a new edge," says Flo. "That's true but at the same time, we all like dancing too, so we still make music you can dance to," adds Ben. Now, like a modern day Monkees, the band are co-habiting in a house in North London, planning world domination in between dealing with overdue council tax and embarking on disastrous kitchen escapades involving clogged up washing machines and dodgy ovens. "The things that have happened in that flat!" exclaims Ben. "We've nearly burnt it down, half flooded it, the lot!" adds Sophie. They even have a band hamster called Alan. Frankly, it all sounds like the set up for a reality TV programme. "We were asked to do one actually," reveals Mark. "But we thought it would suck."
Stage one of their masterplan is now complete – a six-track statement of intent recorded with Guy Chambers at his Sleeper Studio in North London. Tossing influences around like rag dolls (there are hints of everything from American pop-punk, through British indie and mainstream pop in the mix) and then heaving those same influences out of the pram to make way for their own brand of sassy glamour, Selfservice have delivered something rooted in good old fashioned riffs and tunes, but liberally sprinkled with the stardust of youthful sass and swagger. There is very little that seems contrived here, it all comes across like one big happy accident – ballsy, infectious and tons of fun.
"We all like catchy, good tunes," says Mark. "So we just tend to think if it's catchy, why not go with it? We can't choose where we will fit into things really, we'll just fall into place somewhere. It will just happen." It will happen, and when it does you'd be well advised to be ready. Selfservice are about to tear up the rulebook…

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