SCOUTING For Girls' fourth album is progressing rapidly and has reached the mastering stage.

Whether you will hear any new numbers at their Music Showcase Weekend at York Racecourse on Saturday, you will have to wait and see as their planned interview with The Press has fallen foul of some technical gremlins. Maybe we shall have the answers by the time they play Scarborough Open Air Theatre on August 30.

Anyway, here instead is a quick refresher course before they play the Knavesmire course. Over the course of Top Ten albums, Scouting For Girls have made the journey from playing pubs in Harrow and Ruislip to headlining Wembley Arena. This, then, is the tale of three friends who followed their dream and sold two million records along the way.

Roy Stride met future Scouting For Girls drummer Peter Ellard at cubs. “Roy was my sixer," says Peter. "He told me what to do then and he’s been telling me what to do for 20-odd years.” The pair stayed friends, but Scouting For Girls were really born on a cold February evening in 1995, when Suede came to the Watford Coliseum. Roy and his school friend Greg Churchouse went together. For both it was their first gig.

“We were sat cross-legged at the back having a cheeky under-age beer,” remembers Greg, now Scouting For Girls' bassist. “This magical, mystical experience blew our minds.”

“That night we knew we’d form a band,” says Roy. “We couldn’t play instruments, but we both thought ‘we’ll do this or we’ll die trying’. Obviously we didn’t know it would take us over ten years of trying."

In that period, the dream remained. Shared rehearsals in bedrooms and then shared bands came and went but Roy and Greg’s friendship remained steadfast, even when they both went to university.

Along the way, Roy worked for Iceland (the frozen food giants, rather than the country) and Carphone Warehouse (“I still have my Iceland nametag and a Carphone Warehouse sign, so I never forget how things could have been,” he says).

When the pair worked at the Thresher’s on Ruislip High Street, they were joined by another friend, Pete Ellard. “Let’s just say a lot of things went on there,” says Greg cryptically. “But what I can admit is that we spent some quality time smoking cigarettes and drinking the stock. Frankly, it’s no wonder the chain went bust.” The premises now house a Sue Ryder shop.

“It’s still about the songs and only about the songs,” says Greg. “We play music for the sake of music, not celebrity. If we hadn’t been successful, we’d still be rehearsing every Friday night at wherever would have us.”

“We’re an old school band,” says Roy. “We do everything ourselves. The songs on our Greatest Hits have really connected with people’s lives. People like them because they’re catchy, uplifting and somehow very very British. Me, Pete and Greg aren’t just friends any more: we’re family. That’s why our music sounds so natural.”

Their self-titled debut was followed by two years of hard touring, and then their sophomore album, Everybody Wants To Be On TV soared into the British top two; This Ain’t A Love Song gave them their first number one single (“a real turning point; we knew then we weren’t going to go away,” says Roy) and by 2011 they were headlining Wembley Arena a few miles but several light years away, from their modest beginnings.

2011’s The Light Between Us made it three out of three Top Ten albums and Roy then embarked on a sideline of writing songs for others, not least Olly Murs, Alexandra Burke and One Direction, prompting ID's Louis Tomlinson to say: "I love how Scouting for Girls have been bringing feel-good pop music to Britain in the past years".

In 2013, Scouting For Girls released their Greatest Hits set, featuring She's So Lovely, Elvis Ain't Dead, It's Not About You, This Ain't A Love Song et al.

Now, a fourth album is on its way, and this weekend Scouting For Girls make their second visit to York Racecourse, having played there in 2011 when they shared the Music Showcase Weekend with New York veterans Blondie.

Scouting For Girls also play Scarborough Open Air Theatre on August 30. Box office: scarboroughopenairtheatre.com