He may have a confusing name and nearly became a hairdresser, but Callum Burrows has clearly found his dream career, as he explains to Tim Hughes

His name’s not Raymond, and he’s certainly no saint, but don’t let that put you off, because Saint Raymond is set to be one of this year’s biggest new names.

The alter-ego of Nottingham lad Callum Burrows, Saint Raymond is also, just to fox us further, the name of his band. It is, he insists, not as confusing as it sounds.

“When I started off, I chose not to go with my own name,” says the 19-year-old synth-pop artist, whose work has earned comparisons to everyone from Vampire Weekend and The Maccabees to any number of ’80s bands, as well as that other Nottingham young gun Jake Bugg.

“It’s a solo thing, but when I started off, I was playing open mic sessions using my own name. However, it’s easy to fall into the trap of looking, on paper, like every other singer-songwriter and I wanted to differentiate myself from every acoustic artist out there.”

So he took his grandad's name, and fused it with the area of Nottingham in which he grew up – St Michael’s.

So has it led to an identity crisis? “I still don’t answer if people call me that,” he smiles.

Starting with a vengeance in 2014, Callum has continued to pick up admirers – including Radio 1 DJ Zane Lowe and chart-topping singer-songwriter Gabrielle Aplin – whom he has supported live and on who’s Never Fade record label he released his Escapade EP, which rapidly shot up to Number Three in the iTunes chart.

“Everything has been so crazy,” he says. “I’m so busy I don’t even know what I’m doing later today. But that’s kind of nice as it means I never take my eye off the ball. It’s genuinely been a big shock, though. I didn’t know whether people would dig my sound. But it has been a nice thing – and it’s good to see people like it.”

He pinpoints his ambition to make it as an artist to a formative gig by the aforementioned Maccabees when he was just 14.

“I was a big fan of acoustic music but The Maccabees took things up a whole level. They showed how much fun can be had playing live.”

It spurred him to upload his tunes to YouTube and gig as much as possible. “I was playing open mic nights in pubs and whatever else I could do,” he recalls. “Playing live is a good test of what works. Until then, you don’t know what songs are going to click.”

And it is as a live artist that he prides himself. “Touring has been amazing,” he says with genuine excitement. “There’s no better feeling than going out and singing your own lyrics and have the audience sing them back – and know them better than I do!” And the best moment so far? That would be supporting Californian sister act Haim. “Going on tour with Haim was amazing,” he says. “Those girls are wicked! When you’re a support act you can feel overwhelmed, but they are super cool.”

Another highpoint was meeting one of his idols at the BRITS after-party. “I’ve met some cool people, but meeting Noel Gallagher was the icing on the cake,” he says. “I was brought up on Oasis and he was the one I liked. Of course, I went up and asked for a photo. We ended up having a staring contest!”

While comparisons with Jake Bugg are irresistible, he is keen to distance himself. “For me it’s inevitable,” he says. “I’m a big fan of Jake but our music is very different. What I play is pop. But genres are wide and I take from a lot of stuff, including ‘80s music.”

So which ’80s bands has he been influenced by? “It’s all accidental,” he confesses. “Though it must have been something which was around when I was younger.”

And while he still has youth on his side, he insists his rise has been relatively steady. “I have just turned 19, and while it seems a little bit like a quick thing for me, it has not happened overnight. I’ve been working on it for two years.”

In fact things could quite easily have turned out differently for Callum, who seemed destined for a life not on stage, but in a salon. Before his music took off he was at college training to be a hairdresser. Then came a short-lived career as an assistant in a shoe shop.

“I did nearly became a hairdresser,” he laughs. “I do still pride myself on my hair, and that’s my escape plan if this doesn’t work out... not that I’m thinking about that now!”

Saint Raymond plays the O2 Academy Oxford on Monday.
Tickets are £7 from ticketweb.co.uk