NOT too long ago, Roy Stride – one third of the pop sensation that is Scouting For Girls – was working part-time at the Carphone Warehouse. Now he and the rest of his troop are celebrating a number one album thanks to the popularity of such singalongs as She’s So Lovely and Elvis Ain’t Dead. But have the heady heights come too soon and will the search for these girls never end? David Christie finds out.

Your debut album went platinum. How are you coping with the speedy ascent to fame?
It totally bewilders me. We’ve been playing together for so long but after a few years of not getting a record deal we never thought it would happen in a big way. We stopped thinking about it and decided to put out our own records and organise our own gigs. So when we did get signed we were just so ready for it, with a big catalogue of tunes in the bag and a great live show. In a way it’s a bit scary how it has all changed but we are just trying to appreciate every day.

Your new single Heartbeat includes the lyrics: “Every time that we meet, I skip a heartbeat.” Who is this temptress?
It’s no-one in particular, more about like a moment when you meet someone and you end up stuttering. That split second when you are confronted with them and this magic spark is there. It can be one-sided or two-sided. I write from different perspectives: sometimes it’s quite personal but this time it is more of a persona.

And does the persona get the girl?
There’s more than one girl. We’ve actually just shot the video and in it we are playing at a Valentine’s ball. It’s like Skins meets Grease with all these couples in the audience. For some it is unrequited love, others are arguing and two couples meet for the first time and hit it off.

I don’t mean to harp on about it but you seem to have women on the brain. Are you all loved-up or does the scouting continue?
I did quite well with my catch. But seriously, most of the great pop songs are about love in some way and I do honestly believe that – without being cheesy – there is nothing else in this world. When you strip everything away, if you haven’t got love then you haven’t got anything. That’s going to sound terrible! (Yep)

Did I just hear the rest of the band cringe in the background? Talking of Greg [Churchouse – bass guitarist] and Pete [Ellard – drummer], you all used to jam together at school, didn’t you?
We started playing together in school bands and managed to completely murder covers. We actually started doing our own music because if you make a hash of it then you can say, “it’s supposed to be like that, it’s our song”. Covers are a bit less forgiving.

Which covers got the Roy workout?
Britpop broke when we were at school so it was all Blur, Oasis and Supergrass. I was on iTunes recently looking at the “people who like this music like” bit and there were all these groups who were huge back in the 1990s, like Kula Shaker, Shed 7 and Cast. At school the Blur and Oasis rivalry was such a big thing, it meant there were so many school bands as everybody wanted to be Damon Albarn or Liam Gallagher. Most of them grew out of it but we just carried on.

You’ve mastered the upbeat poppy cheeriness. Where will the difficult second album take you?
It’s going to be an album about life on the tour bus! No, I really like upbeat music which makes people want to dance and makes people smile. It’s a good thing to bring some heart and hope and happiness to people and I am really proud that’s the sort of music we make.

Have you started writing it yet?
I’ve got the songs for the second one and I’m going to start demo-ing them but it’s a way off yet. We’re in no rush. I remember the first couple of days when we started recording our first album we began by laying down the drums, and they were boring days listening to a drumbeat 12 hours a day for a week. The record label picked out the songs they wanted but I’d already sketched out songs for the second and the third from songs we’ve got. I really like writing on the road. And with Macs now, you can pretty much run a record label with a laptop – it has a recording studio and demos on there so we should be OK.

Just to check, you were actually a fully fledged Scout?
Of course. And so was Pete. I really enjoyed it and it helped me out with really practical things like knowing how to cook when I went off to university. And at festivals I know how to put up a tent. It taught me how to look after myself and it was a really good experience.
OK Chief Scout, time to put your knowledge to the test. When would you use a clove hitch?
For tying off rope, isn’t it? The thing with the Scouts is that sometimes they get a bit of a bad press as having this old 1950s-type attitude. But when I was there you had a great time and learned things which could help you in later life.

The Scouts motto is Be Prepared. What’s the band’s motto?
Certainly not that as we are fairly unprepared for everything. Bands come and go so you don’t know what is going to happen in the future. So I guess our motto is “Enjoy Every Day”. It is a real privilege to be doing this, but to do this with your best friends who you’ve known all your life is even better. We may not get to the second album but we’re just enjoying every day.

And every day is another step away from those Carphone Warehouse shifts. Do you worry about ending up like Darren Lamb, the agent to Ricky Gervais’s character Andy Millman in Extras, back where it all began?
Oh man, that was one of the worst days of my life when I saw that and he says: “You’re going to have to go full-time.” I had been there for four or five years and they were really wicked to me, they had offered me promotions and stuff. It was a good job and I made loads of friends. And whenever I go past the Carphone Warehouse I pick up a catalogue as I like to keep my hand in, you know, just in case I’m needed back.