Tom (vocals), Sam (Moog/machines), Mel (drums), Huw (drums), Bradley (keyboards – “He’s at Sainsbury’s today.” “Don’t say that!” “OK, he’s doing wizardly things, getting potions and stuff”) are not only the ones to watch on the teen band scene, but they give the kind of live performance that you have to see. Working on tracks in their blacked-out rehearsal space, they’re pulling their act together for the upcoming Camden Crawl and their 14-date UK tour.

Most of the band are clothed in a uniform of black, skinny clothes and what appears to be mandatory leather brogues (“They’re my dad’s,” says Tom) but lead singer Tom cuts the most striking figure in high-waisted, flared tweed slacks, slashed cream blouse and a floppy black quiff. Bandmate Sam is less flamboyant in his gear but is one of the stronger forces in band, no doubt the confidence coming from his experiences as the founder of London’s Underage festival. “It wasn’t that hard really,” Sam says, majorly downplaying it. “We were lucky as we had a lot of help from the sponsors, so my role was more choosing the bands that I thought people would wanna see.” In keeping with their gothic roots, they launched their first single “Visions Arise” (Loog) at Shoreditch Church. ’SUP trawled ‘round the back streets of London’s East End with them, stopping for a bit in the churchyard to find out how the world’s most extreme feminist influenced S.C.U.M.

I heard your name is from the feminist manifesto by the woman who shot Andy Warhol, Valerie Solanas (Society for Cutting Up Men). Where did you stumble across that?

Tom: It came from Bradley who found the book somehow, and he came back and told me about it. I didn’t really like it initially until I found out about it. It’s not exactly a direct reference to our feminist views.

Sam: We just thought it was really interesting that someone thought they could destroy—

Tom: An entire sex!

Sam: It’s pretty extreme. We recently painted the room in our rehearsal space with some of the stuff in the manifesto. I’d read it before, and I think a few of us had read stints of it. But actually writing it on the wall, when you’ve got it on there and you read it again, you actually realize what a terrifying thing it is. It’s like Mein Kampf, but for women.

That’s the quote on your Myspace then?

Sam: Yeah that’s our opening.

I read it and thought, ‘Hmmm, that’s an interesting ethos for a band!’ Do you use that as a basis for your music?

Sam: I think we’re very much into film and visual references.

Tom: When we started the band, there was so much music around, but it seemed there was no real thought or art about it. A lot of us love certain types of bands, but it felt that everywhere we went there was no presence or that much excitement happening. All the guys we were on lineups with were just like— (shrugs)

Sam: I joined the band on the back of seeing them after the second gig. I remember going to see them and thinking, ‘This is gonna be a load of shit.’ I went in and it was the biggest racket, but watching it was fantastic, that a band could really hold you like that. At this point I wasn’t in the band – there was a different bass player and different drummer. I remember watching it and thinking, ‘No one’s doing this.’ Dark, electronic music, there was no one doing it with a singer and with a rock beat at that time.

Tom: When we first started playing, we’d seen a few bands around who’d excited us – stuff emerging that had a bit of excitement, a bit of emotion, a bit aggressive or creative and I think when we used to go on stage, we were pretty much ready to explode. We were so young.

Sam: When I joined, I was the arse end of 15.

How did the rest of you end up joining the band?

Tom: (to Sam) I think I came up to you and said I liked your shirt or something!

Sam: (laughs) Yeah. After seeing them I was like, ‘What do you listen to?’ and none of them said anything. One of them said, ‘I don’t really listen to anything.’ So it’s like there’s no real reference. It’s original.

Tom: I think now, we’ve never really been one of those bands who’s sat there and cited an inspiration, or said we like this or that. Obviously we’ve all got a shared love and music has formed the people we are through what we listen to and it’s our identity.

Sam: But we don’t want to sit here and say our inspirations are this, this, this and this.

Because then you’re pigeonholing yourselves?

Sam: Yeah and because it’s based on other things like films, experiences or even like junk markets. Everything inspires us. It doesn’t have to be just music.

Tom: I think one of the inspirations to start a band is how it makes us feel. For me, the way that certain bands make me feel – even when I’m like monochrome, emotionally – that’s what I’d like to make other people feel. That desire that we all hold is probably why some of our music is quite extreme.

What do you hope the audience gets from seeing you play live?

Tom: I hope they get some sort of experience that we feel they like. Does that make sense?

Sam: I hope they don’t.

I read somewhere that you wanted to destroy popular culture?

Sam: That’s based on one of Valerie’s words. That’s what I meant when I said that. She wanted to destroy the culture by destroying Andy Warhol.

Is that what you want to do to the mainstream?

Sam: Not really.

Tom: I don’t think we’d be that precocious.

Sam: We want to co-exist with it and make you question it.

People don’t have to necessarily get your music to enjoy it?

Huw: Well, we don’t want it to be soulless.

Sam: Some people aren’t willing to get anything out of it. It’s your decision if you want to get anything out of it or if you just want to sit there.

You’ve worked quite closely with Tomethy Furze from the Horrors on your first single. How was that?

Tom: It was good, but I think we were really untrained back then.

Sam: It was our first experience in the studio.

What did you get out of working with him?

Tom: It was a good working environment. We learned to speak up a bit more.

You’re writing your album at the moment. How do you go about creating your sound?

Huw: We all write together. We all had a few months off and spent every day together in the studio writing, bringing in tracks, having a listen to stuff, seeing what other people are into.

You’ve got a load of gigs coming up for your first tour. How do you feel about that?

Sam: We’re really eager for this as we had our last gig in Berlin. That’s what we love about foreign audiences. We were playing to essentially a European electro crowd and by the end of it, half the crowd had gone, but the ones who had stayed – none of whom probably came to see us – were really enjoying it. That’s what we really love about going away and getting out of London.

Do you look for a reaction from your audience?

Tom: Well, we’re not sitting here at this moment, angry—

Sam: Yeah there’s no angst or anything—

Tom: But like anybody, we want to provoke people.

Huw: It’s like putting a bit of yourself out there and wanting people to enjoy it.

Sam: Exactly.