Scouting For Girls are gearing up for their first major UK tour but they still found time to catch up with TNT (although not to get dressed!).
It’s 10.15am and Greg Churchouse has only just got out of bed. “I’ve only been up for 10 minutes,” he yawns down the phone to me. “I haven’t had breakfast yet – or even a cup of coffee.”
I tell him I feel honoured – and ask him if he’s still in his PJs, to which he giggles.
Are they superhero-themed?
“No! They’re God-awful-looking check things,” he says.
Greg is one third of pop band Scouting For Girls. Along with Roy Stride (vocals, keyboard, guitar) and Peter Ellard (percussion), they have risen to fame for catchy sing-along-songs such as She’s So Lovely, This Ain’t A Love Song and Elvis Ain’t Dead.
However, the band have something of a Marmite effect – with people either loving them or hating them.
But, given as they’ve just announced their first UK arena tour – it’s clear their popularity is growing. And it represents a huge leap from when the lifelong friends would gig in their garages.
Why is the band doing so well?
I don’t know. It’s all still really rather baffling … It’s amazing. We’ve been playing together for 15 years and we never envisaged anything like this happening. We create a mixture of happy-go-lucky tunes and pride ourselves on putting on a fantastic live show.
You strike me as being a really happy band. When were you last pissed off?
Generally when I’m in the car, driving. Some people and their driving … [makes
a strange growling noise]. My poor girlfriend has to listen to me effing and blinding. It happened the other day when a guy just pulled out in front of me …
What did you last argue about with the other band members?
We only argue about stupid things – like who’s going to pay for a meal or who’s going to the bar next. It’s not about the money, it’s just about queuing at the bar.
Next year will be your biggest tours to date. What can fans expect?
We’re all sitting down at the moment going through stage plans and discussing what type of production we’re going to use. We’ve done loads of tours in the UK, so it’s nice to now be able to take it to the next level. The things that you can do at arenas are so much bigger and better.
Like what?
If you go to see really big pop bands such as JLS and Take That, they have more scope to put on a big show – but we’re a proper band and play all our own instruments, so we’re a bit constrained. Our main aim is to deliver our music so that fans can sing along.
Your fans are called the Wolfcubs …
Before we were signed, we wanted to come up with a way of keeping in touch with our fans and making new ones. So we came up with a Denis The Menace-style club and bought a badge-making machine …
A badge-making machine?
Yeah! It wasn’t a rubbish one – it was decent quality and cost about £200. So fans got badges and membership cards. Since we’ve been signed by Sony, though, we don’t offer badges anymore.
She’s So Lovely is heard by millions during the X Factor ads every week – how do you feel about the show?
I think it’s a great show. I don’t watch it quite as religiously as the other two – I’m more of a Come Dine With Me kind of fella. It’s kind of a British institution now, but it’s an amazing show with amazing talent.
What’s your latest song Don’t Want To Leave You Now about?
It’s about not wanting to leave someone you’re in love with. All of our songs are a mixture of experience and storytelling. We all go away quite a lot so it’s quite a poignant song.
Do you hang out in A-list haunts when you’re in London?
Camden’s a really trendy place to hang out. We don’t really do VIP – I’m not sure whether we shun the celebrity lifestyle or it shuns us [laughs].
The thing is, we get to do an amazing thing, so, when you come home, all you really want to do is watch a DVD and eat pizza.
» Scouting For Girls will be playing Wembley Arena, London HA9 0DH, on April 8, 2011
Tube: Wembley Park.
Tickets from £25
See livenation.co.uk
Five signed albums up for grabs!
TNT has teamed up with Scouting For Girls to offer five lucky readers the chance to win a signed copy of their latest album Don’t Want To Leave You.
To be in with a chance of winning the prize, which features the songs Don’t Stop Believing, Famous, as well as their latest release Don’t Want To Leave You Now, email grabs@tntmagazine.com by midday Friday with ‘SFG’ in the subject line. Good luck!
– Carol Driver
