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The Loungs (pic: Amy Nic)

Loung-ing about

Where did the name The Loungs come from?

"Loung was the first ever word to be dropped from the Oxford English Dictionary due to a printing error and was never reinstated, which resulted in the word disappearing from public use some time during the early 1920's. We're just claiming it back. It originally meant ‘to leave the ground’ and was used mostly in aeronautical terms."

What's Armageddon Outta Here about? Is it as obvious as it sounds?

The Loungs in cartoon form

"Yes. Very. However grown up and mature you want to be about things, there always comes the point when it is both easier and more satisfying to hurl abuse at each other and try to cause some verbal damage, rather than wrap each other in cotton wool or even tarpaulin."

With that title and the wonderfully odd Cats on the b-side, do you think there's a danger of you being seen as a novelty band?

"That's why Cats is a b-side and not on the album! B-sides used to be places of fun and experimenting. Now there's normally 11 b-sides over six formats and it stinks, Ron. It really stinks.

"After listening to song after song about various pop stars and their failed love lives, surely it is a 'novelty' to hear a song about the possibility of cats being sent to earth by an alien race to watch over us.

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"Plus if anybody does call us a 'novelty band', we can always punch them repeatedly in the face."

What can people expect from your album?

"A nice surprise. It's a blow for optimism in the war against apathy. It will be good to listen to outside in the sun. Keep the vinyl out of direct sunlight though, ‘cause it could melt.

"We were aiming for an odd but good little uptempo pop album that doesn't pander to any trends or current rulebooks. We think we got it right. Wonderous, harmonious pop, filled with all kinds of sounds including the studio radiator."

Why is it called We Are The Champ?

"Because we are: and 2007 is gonna be sunny, due to global warming, so you need a positive outlook to fight the greenhouse gases. It's tongue-in-cheek bravado. Something that we survive on, both in the band and our private lives, and apart from that, we had a little plastic singing toy that had a picture of a boy with a football on it. When switched on it sang 'Ole, Ole Ole, Ole, We are the Champ, We are the Champ!' It was blue and had a flashing orange light on it. We like toys with lights."

How important are beards to the band?

The Loungs

"How important is bread in a BLT? Very important. It was always a stipulation upon joining The Loungs that each member must look like some form of tramp. There are varying different levels of facial hair, so that when we stand in a line together, we are a perfect representation of the evolution of man. Also, we work so hard, we don't have time to shave."

You did a session into Marc Riley's 6 Music show recently. What sort of response have you had from it?

"We were manhandled through the streets for the next seven days and had our beards tousled by crazy sluts, and our intelligence informs us that Oxford Road had to closed off while they hosed the Â鶹ԼÅÄ down to allow the switchboards to cool off, thus preventing many thousands of pointless deaths.

"Marc Riley scriked all the way through the session, saying 'The search is over, the quest is complete, bring me the head of a Loung, that I may feast on his furry flesh and pogo till at least the next news bulletin’."