Introducing... Rooster, the new yet classic sound of rock.

Rooster have the swagger of Oasis, the riffs of Aerosmith and the balls to call their debut single Come Get Some. They have already played live on Top Of The Pops and popped up on CD:UK and Popworld. Soon they will be everywhere, proclaiming "it's all about the big chorus, you mustn't be afraid of the big chorus". Charles Hutchinson gets some Rooster boosting from singer Nick Atkinson

Rooster look to be turning up the turbo booster, Nick.

"We haven't had a chance to stop and think about it. We've been busy promoting and gigging, doing TV shows and radio stations and magazine interviews.

"We really wanted to hit the ground running, from the start, so we got in touch straightaway with Hugh Goldsmith, who runs the Brightside label, and he signed us pretty much after only three months, a year and a half ago. Since then we've been writing, recording and gigging."

How did Rooster come together?

"I'd known Luke guitarist Luke Potashnick for about ten or 12 years. We were at school together in Eastbourne and we'd been in separate bands. I was at a loose end, Luke had gone to music college, and I did a year at university but I knew music was something I always wanted to do, and I was just biting the bullet. Doing English and drama at university was not going to be an entrance to what I wanted to do. I just thought, 'you're having a great time but you'll come out of it with a £20,000 debt and no closer to what you should be doing'.

"So Luke and I got together, and he knew Dave drummer David Neale from a band in Cornwall, and because we didn't know any bassist locally, we put an advert out and did that Simon Cowell thing, auditioning 50 a day! Ben Smyth shone out."

What happened next?

"We locked ourselves in a room for nine months... me and Luke live in West London and locked ourselves away in the studio. We've spent a lot of time working on the material, taking it out on the road and gigging. A lot of bands make a studio album and don't go out and play to let their songs evolve, but we were determined to do that."

Come Get Some is one heck of a mission statement, Nick?

"It's not aggressive. It's cheeky rather than anything else. It's that 'Come on, you know you want it, baby'! It's a lot of fun, that song. It's what we're all about: a big riff and cooking chorus that goes over the top with a hip-hop groove behind it - a no-brainer rock track."

Why is a big chorus so important?

"For me personally, and for the band, there's a time and a place for all types of music but music for me is something to jump up and down to with a melody to catch on to. For most people these days, melody is not a cool thing, but for me, the Stones, Fleetwood Mac, Aerosmith, they were all about big choruses. Apart from pop groups, not enough bands want to do melodies now, and I think that's wrong."

How important is an image?

"To be honest, we got told a stylist would be going out to buy a load of clothes for us. I said 'What are they going to buy?' and they said 'Jeans and T-shirts'. I said, 'Stuff that, give me the money and I'll go and do it myself'! It was like, look what I'm wearing, jeans and a T-shirt! As far as I'm concerned, they were dressing us for what we already were: four young guys who dress reasonably well, write tunes with killer choruses and love playing."

Come Get Some is released this week. What are your expectations?

"I'm not thinking too much about that but if it gets into the Top 20, I'll be really happy, and if it goes into the Top Ten, I'll go blind with delirium."

What comes next?

"The album will be out at the beginning of next year. It could be called Come Get Some... or Come Get Some More... or maybe Come Get Some Seconds."

Rooster play Fibbers, York, on Thursday. Tickets: £5 advance, £6 door.

Updated: 16:47 Thursday, October 14, 2004