GLASS Caves began by busking on the streets of York in their student days. Now they are playing live on Dermot O’Leary’s Saturday afternoon show on BBC Radio 2.

“We only found out we were doing a live session on Dermot’s primetime show two days before we did it last weekend,” says lead singer and guitarist Matt Hallas.

“It was arranged last minute through one of our promotion teams, Viaduct, our radio plugger.

“It was an exciting prospect but nervous at the same time. We went down to London, played the single Breaking Out and a cover of Walking On The Moon [The Police] – we’re used to playing those from busking – and were interviewed by Dermot.”

Matt was delighted by the opportunity to do a live session and interview. “It’s exactly what we need as it creates a profile for us,” he says, ahead of Saturday’s gig at Fibbers in York.

Breaking Out is the latest release off last year’s debut album, Alive, a self-released record funded by heavy-rotation busking.

“Considering the limited budget we had, I don’t think the album could have gone much better. The fan base has grown; the gigs are filling out,” says Matt. “Now there are a lot of people sniffing around us; we’ve been talking to a guy who wants to set up a label in Penny Lane [Liverpool], and hopefully a big label will want to take us on.”

As it happens Matt was standing in Penny Lane at the time of this phone interview, as the world of Glass Caves continues to grow. The Press first called them a York band, then a press release announcing their debut album said they were a Leeds band, and Pontefract fits into their story too. So what are you, Matt, a York, Leeds or Ponty band?

“The weird thing is that we’re kind of a triangle of all three. The initial promotion was in York, then Leeds. I’m now living in Liverpool – I’m stood on Penny Lane – and the rest are in Pontefract. So the triangle has become a square... an oddly shaped square,” he explains. Any why are you in Liverpool? “My wife has a job here, so we’ve moved over,” he says.

Incidentally, Alive was recorded in Liverpool at Parr Studios, and now Matt, bassist Will Groves, guitarist and backing vocalist Connor Thorpe and drummer Elliott Fletcher have been writing songs at home, potentially with a view to making their second album, “We hope to go into the recording studio over the summer,” says Matt.

Glass Caves are back in York this weekend, not at their old weekend busking pitch outside All Saints, Pavement, but at Fibbers in Toft Green.

“It does almost feel like home, even though it’s technically not our home, but it’s where we started, where we have the most fans. It’s where we used to practise for two hours before we busked as we were so nervous, too shy to look up when we played, so it always feel special to play there.”

• Glass Caves play Fibbers, York, on Saturday, supported by Red Kites and Red Rum Club; doors open at 7.30pm. Box office: fibbers.co.uk