Scouting For Girls

Twelve months can be a long time in music. As 2006 greeted 2007, Scouting For Girls’ vocalist and pianist Roy Stride was working the day shift at Harrow’s Carphone Warehouse. Fast-forward to 20th January 2008 and Roy is celebrating with a number one album, safe in the knowledge that his band (of lifelong friends) are one of the most exuberant and successful British acts in years. Life can be sweet.

Rewind over a decade and Roy was already plotting the rough sketching of his ultimate indie-pop vision. From the age of 11, he was spending his school lunch-breaks thrashing out rhythm on a drum-kit. By 14, he had persuaded one of his closest friends, Greg Churchouse, to get an acoustic guitar rather than the much-coveted Sega Megadrive for Christmas, attend their first gig together (Suede, Watford, 1995), and form a band with him at university.

Despite being a rough incarnation of the band, and little more than a tester (“the lyrics were mostly improvised, and I only had a vague idea of what the tune was about” he recalls) it set the tone for Roy becoming one of the most fascinating young songwriters around today.

Moulding, rejigging, and ultimately progressing, Roy found focus and became Scouting For Girls. This fresh project offered a renewed energy and drive that found him writing up to two or three tunes per day. He ditched the guitar for a piano (“it offers us so much more melody”) and recruited Pete Ellard, an old junior school friend and fellow Cub, to play drums.

Fixing up gigs at their local pub in Harrow, Scouting For Girls, were adamant that they would do things their own way; filling the venue with friends and family, selling CDs to a rapidly growing general public, and flirting with the notion of taking their sound out of the suburbs.

MySpace stories are ten a dozen, but Scouting For Girls realised that there had to be an easier way of making ‘friends’ without wasting endless hours by adding Russian pornstars or fake handbag merchants. Striking on the idea of offering more for their friendship, the ‘Wolfcub Club’ was soon established. A ‘Wolfcub’ would receive free membership to the band’s club and receive all sorts of Scouting For Girls related paraphernalia; CDs, cheaper entry to gigs, membership cards, booklets, badges et al. It was an ingenius move, and saw Scouting For Girls’ fanbase grow out of Harrow and across the globe.

Progressing quickly, Epic Records were the first to spot and nurture this special new act, and within days of signing the deal (Valentines’ Day 2007) they were swept out to the legendary Helioscentric Studios in East Sussex to record their debut album with producer Andy Green.

The first taster to their wider audience, was the release of the It’s Not About You EP in June 2007. It became the first limited edition EP to chart in UK history. The following September Scouting For Girls released their first single, She’s So Lovely which peaked at 7, and spent an amazing six weeks in the UK Top 10. The foundations were set, the radio stations tuned in, and Britain was (literally) waking up to Scouting For Girls as the new British indie-pop sensations.

Undoubtedly Roy’s ear for a buoyant melody and inescapable chorus hook has offered them the lionshare of success, but his unique take on life which is reflected in the lyrics, are forever captivating.

The warmth, wit and healthy does of bittersweet nostalgia makes an individual stand for the young at heart. Using unforgettable melodies and weaving lyricism, they chronicle lost youth and broken hearts.

With the release of their highly acclaimed eponymous debut album on 17th September 2007, Scouting For Girls delivered a record that is resiliently upbeat in sound, and yet delves deep into the soul – posing questions and answering them in one swooping, rushing, head-spinning melody.

Owing their success largely to the support of their longstanding Wolfcub fans, recalling those roots is important. Even today, as the trio sit as all conquering chart heroes, time is spent conversing via the internet to their fans, and preparing Wolf Cub packs for the bludgeoning waiting list.

The huge demand for UK shows has found Scouting For Girls tour endlessly, selling-out shows across the country and squeezing in extra dates to appease their fans' fervour.

Taking the all-important step outside of Britain is the next move in the band’s plans to make the world a much cheerier place to be.

Roy - “To be honest, we’re all still pinching ourselves. It has been a real whirlwind already, but we were always going to do this.”

Twelve months is a long time in music. Scouting For Girls’ journey however, has only just begun.

Scouting For Girls are:
Roy Stride – Vocals/Piano
Greg Churchouse – Bass
Peter Ellard - Drums