Â鶹ԼÅÄ

The band first surfaced two years ago to much industry interest, but since then, they’ve been flying below the radar, making sure that when the moment came, they’d be ready to grab it. According to lead singer Moon, holding off and laying low has all been part of their plan.

"We wanted to take our time and get the right deal. We’ve been offered a few deals over the last two years but we didn’t want to sign just for the sake of having a deal.

That fan-base has been built via support slots with the likes of The Fratellis, Kasabian and, Moon’s personal favourites, The Enemy.

"We loved The Enemy. Those guys have so much enthusiasm on a live stage. Plus they’re into having some fun backstage too – just like us. We got involved in a backstage football match with them and The Twang recently. Let’s put it this way – everyone had bruised shins the next day!

"But Kasabian are the masters of live performance – they know how to whip a crowd into a frenzy and keep them there."

The best new band in Britain?

It’s no surprise that they’re impressed by the Leicester rockers; Kasabian pipped Smith6079 to the 20,000-strong audience’s choice of best band at this summer’s JerseyLive.

"We were nominated for five awards, which has never been done before, and we said before the ceremony that just being nominated was a huge honour.

"But we had our eye on the Best New Band award from the start – we really wanted that one because we felt it sent out the kind of message to the industry that we wanted.

"The Best Video award was just as sweet though, because the video production team worked miracles with a tiny budget to make that video and it really does stand up against anything you see on any of the other music channels. So we were honoured to get the awards. It tees up the next year really well."

Into the charts

That Best Video gong came for the promo of the band’s debut single, Kill Romeo, a song which Moon describes as being about "the bitterness, anger and hate which we all feel when a destructive relationship breaks down."

Impressively, despite little publicity, the song is close to making the pre-order top ten of two of the biggest online music retailers, a fact that has left Moon a little speechless.

"We are stunned to be honest. We have always prided ourselves on having a large and fiercely loyal fan-base, but to click on Amazon or HMV and see our single up there among the big boys (and girls) of the chart is quite something. We have to pinch our collective selves every day!"

"We get up to 200 messages a day on our MySpace page and we answer every single one of them personally. We talk to our fans about everything and anything.

"The music is obviously a huge part of that but, and I’m not just saying this, the real hardcore support have all become really good friends. They have invested as much time and effort in Smith6079 as we have ourselves and they want this success for us as much as we do. It’s a huge group effort."

Slowly but surely

So everything is in place for Smith6079’s launch into the big time, though Moon is keeping his feet firmly on the ground.

So when will that album be available? Moon says it’s still a case of keeping things in check and making sure everything is done as slowly and surely as it has been so far.

"We want to release another single first, probably in January or February next year and then follow that with an album in early spring.

"We have about 50 songs fully recorded and mastered and ready to go, so we have to whittle that down to a dozen or so for the album – that’s not going to be easy because our fans are very certain about what tracks must be on there – and so far that’s about 30 tracks!"

The future, then, looks like being one of hard work as well as success for Smith6079, but that’s not something they’re scared of. After all, with so many fans behind them, they’re not about to let them down now.

Kill Romeo is out on Monday 5 November on Rocksector Records.