Old and new

But while they may have the urbane stamp of a metropolitan band – even their name comes from the church on London’s Old Street where they used to rehearse – Chapel Club are straight outta... Swindon.

“Swindon may still be home, but there’s nothing going on there,” says guitarist Alex Parry.

“I’m really a big fan of Oxford, though. I used to hang out there when I was a kid. We used to go to the Zodiac; it was great!”

So they don’t consider themselves Wiltshire celebrities?

“No!” he laughs. “We don’t even get recognised in the street. But then, we are not a very recognisable bunch. It’s obvious that some people are in a band – with their long hair and everything, but we are not like that. We have never made a conscious effort to come up with a ‘look’.”

Taking their cue from a youth spent listening to everything from My Bloody Valentine and Sonic Youth to New Order and even Scott Walker, fame came through a residency in London’s edgy, yet trendy, Dalston; a fixture on last year’s NME Radar tour; the selection of their songs O Maybe I and The Shore as ‘Hottest Records in the World’ by Radio One’s Zane Lowe; a slot on Later…with Jools Holland; and festivals slots at Glastonbury, Reading and Leeds, and our very own Truck.

On Monday, Alex and bandmates Lewis Bowman, Michael Hibbert, Liam Arklie and Rich Mitchell, return to Oxford for a show at their old stamping ground – the O2 Academy (formerly the Zodiac of Alex’s youth). But fans of old are in for a surprise.

For while the band will still be banging out favourites from their album Palace, and their Wintering EP, they will be coming on before that for a set of all-new songs.

So why play separate sets instead of, as most bands do, interspersing the new material among the familiar?

“The new songs are totally different to our other stuff,” says Alex. “So it probably makes sense to play them together.

“We haven’t decided quite how it’s going to work, but the way to do this in a coherent way is to play it entirely separately – with the new stuff first.”

So how different are the new songs?

“The difference is in the approach,” he says. “We haven’t embellished them and there are not as many guitar effects and big drums sounds. Instead there are piano sounds and vocal loops.

“We’ve been listening to lots of different music and are taking on an introspective approach.

“We’ve learned a lot more about music and songwriting, and it sounds better and more grown-up to me. But it is a natural development rather than a totally new sound.”

It’s a potentially brave move but Alex insists now is the time to do it, before they get stamped with too many labels and expectations.

“It’s hard to move on to different things when you are really successful,” he says. “But our souls are still open.”

Things have happened quickly for the boys. At what point did Alex realise they’d ‘made’ it?

“When it happens so fast there’s little opportunity to stand outside and look at it,” he says thoughtfully, “I just roll with the punches.

“I am looking forward to touring again. It’s going to be my kind of show. Though we are not playing Swindon… again.

“Every time I look at the tour dates, I say ‘you’ve left off Swindon again!’”

So, with the Oxford gig the closest thing to a hometown show, are they looking forward to a party afterwards?

“Well, we are not very rock & roll,” he says. “Most of us will probably be tucked up in bed after the gig with a book.

“Most of the bands we meet are ‘hitting it hard’. I always think we should be a bit more like that too.”

Chapel Club play the Oxford O2 Academy on Monday. Tickets are £10.50 from ticketweb.co.uk Doors open at 7pm.