Suddenly being mentioned in the same breath as U2 and Coldplay, is also helping to put their catalogue of false starts, curious luck and repeated attempts by Johnny Marr and Crispian Mills to poach guitarist Sam, firmly behind them.

Meanwhile, Out Of Service (released May 19 th 2003 through Independent Sugar Shack Records) has sparked frantic major label activity, topped Radio 1's One Music Top 10 Rated list and had Radiohead producer John Leckie on the phone offering to produce their debut album.

However, success didn't always seem quite so assured for Johnny Benn (Vocals), Sam Dyson (Guitar/Backing Vocals), Wayne Jones (Bass) and Martyn Morley (Drums). Especially given the criteria Johnny and Martyn, veterans of the same "crappy" school bands, used to select their future band mates. 

"We found Sam playing at this showcase night in a pub in Bristol called the Bristol Bridge Inn," explains Johnny. "There were all these forty year old blokes with acoustic guitars and Sam, who comes on with this fuck off big amplifier, screaming into a microphone doing dodgy Nirvana rip-offs. We just thought anyone with that much bollocks deserves to be in a band." Six months later, they found Wayne. "He was in the same pub," Sam laughs. "He was pissed out of his head, playing bass on his back. So we had to have him." 

Miraculously, given their proud claim that they can't play a chord between them, Sam and Wayne proved an inspired pairing. 

Johnny: "Straight away they had this rapport. Wayne always seemed to know what to play over Sam's guitar parts, and they came up with some really beautiful stuff." Sam: "None of us have trained musically, so influences aside, we've just found our own style." Wayne: "We just play what sounds right and what we want to hear on the radio."

After nods to U2, The Police, Pearl Jam and REM, Sam and Wayne's intuitive playing and both Johnny's world worn vocals and his love of anthemic choruses, the other major contributor to WAXONWAXOFF's surging highs and brooding lows is space. Masses of it. "Before we had our own studio, we spent six months rehearsing in an aircraft hanger," clarifies Johnny. "It turned us into stadium rockers. Seriously, it was huge, and we were whacking out songs just to try and fill it. I think that's how we ended up with this immense sound."

Less helpful was the year Sam, Wayne and Martyn spent looking for a new singer after sacking Johnny for his alleged 'lack of commitment'. "Yeah, but they came crawling back." Johnny reminds smugly. Sam concedes. "It was only when we started trying out other singers that we realised how good he actually was. So we met up with him and said we've got to carry on because it could be amazing. And it was then that things really started kicking off for us."

First they were introduced to producer Ian Grimble (Travis, Beth Orton) who worked on four songs with them for free, including Out of Service's Everything Is Good. Then off the back of those tracks, the band were selected for, and subsequently won, Carlton Television's 2bdiscovered competition.

While their prize had its draw backs- Johnny: "they sent us on a tour bus to Cannes to do some gigs which was good, but they also made us do really naff things like busk and ride up and down the coast on a boat playing our set"- the chance to record at Peter Gabriel's Real World studio was more than welcome. Soul Food Mother was the result.

Having also made the final of the Diesel New Music Awards 2002, been inexplicably courted by both dance producer Chicane and Sugababes collaborator Brian Higgins, and received admiring glances from several major labels, they finally decided to test the waters properly and release an EP on Indie Sugar Shack. Out of curiosity, they also sent the first copy of Out Of Service to producer John Leckie (The Verve, Muse, Radiohead's The Bends). A week later Leckie called to offer his services and bag first dibs on the album.

"John Leckie wants to produce our album" reiterates Sam. "When we heard that we got so fucking excited." With Leckie equally moved by the prospect, and the Out Of Service EP going to No.1 on Radio 1's One Music Top 10 Rated chart, the glances from the major labels are more admiring than ever.

"We just want to take one step at a time. We're certainly not going to just jump at any deal," assures Johnny. "It's all peaks and troughs with this band, so we're not rushing into anything. In fact, with the reaction to the EP and the John Leckie thing, and the fact record companies seem to be imploding at the moment, we might even set up a label and put the album out ourselves."

Either way, WAXONWAXOFF are definitely enjoying more peaks than troughs these days. Just don't mention The Karate Kid. "Ahhh, everyone thinks the name's a Karate Kid reference," screams Sam in mock exasperation. "It's not. It's not a surfing thing either, which a lot of people think it is. We just like the word wax, and a mate of mine suggested WAXONWAXOFF. I suppose The Karate Kid thing makes it memorable, and it's of our generation, but that's not why we called our band that. We just liked the sound of it."

The 'Out Of Service EP' will be released on Sugar Shack Records on 19 th May.

Wax On Wax Off
' Out of Service ep '