Who are they? Four young East Londoners, dubbed the "new Franz Ferdinand", consisting of Kele Okereke (vocals, guitar), Russell Lissack (guitar), Gordon Moakes (vocals, bass) amd Matt Tong (drums).

Influenced by: Davids Bowie and Byrne, Bjork, writers Hanif Kureishi and Elizabeth Wurtzel.

Current progress: broken into the UK top 40 twice, reaching 26 with their last single 'Helicopter', in November 2004.

They say: "If we had to stand against anything, we'd probably want to stand united against complacency."

Lord Crowley says: "Their imminent album Silent Alarm is an impressive collection of light and shade, boasting a set of quirky, jerky songs that sounds like XTC getting it on with Franz Ferdinand while Talking Heads make the tea. Which is no bad thing in my book. Just check the awesome 'Blue Light' and forthcoming single 'So Here We Are' for proof. Cool."

Trivia file: their name change - they were known as The Union until 2003 - made the music industry think they were a new band, rather than one that had been plugging away for several years.

Interested?