LONDON three-piece The Noisettes have lined up a UK tour to support their top ten second album Wild Young Hearts.

Singer/bassist Shingai Shoniwa, guitarist Dan Smith and drummer Jamie Morrison were marked as rising stars after 2007 debut What’s The Time Mr Wolf?

Do you get bored of being asked why you went from being an indie band on the first album to a pop one on the second?

“No, never bored! We don’t think we ever were an indie band, and we’re not really in any kind of genre. It’s been a blessing and also a curse. The blessing is musically we can incorporate loads of styles – I guess the curse was that some people think because the first album was so varied, it wasn’t commercially successful. But it took us all around the world, and it also meant it was the perfect springboard to make Wild Young Hearts.”

Did you feel cautious about what the reaction would be to Wild Young Hearts?

“No, we just make music. You can’t tailor a song to suit future fans who you haven’t met yet. You can’t go, ‘I know what teenage girls are going to want to hear in 2011, let’s write a song for that’. All you’ve got to do is write a song that you’ll still be happy to be singing in 2011 and not be bored of. The people who can hear the genuine excitement in your voice from singing that song are going to be your fans.”

Are you already thinking ahead to the third album and thinking of how your style is going to develop on that?

“Yeah, a band I really like at the moment are Empire And The Sun and I just went crazy about their album Walking On A Dream. I listened to it so much for about six weeks that I couldn’t listen to it after. In the last week, though, I’ve gone back to it. I think they are people who just love making great pop music, which is very inspiring. When I go see a band like Massive Attack and Portishead, these are people that just love touring when they have a new record out. I look to these bands for inspiration rather than the indie quagmire.”

Do you find it strange that people now look up to you?

“Yeah definitely! Unless you’ve got a head the size of a watermelon, you definitely find that a humbling experience. I’m from a big African family and my mum always helps me to keep my feet on the ground and makes sure I can still laugh at myself. It’s a really strange thought, though, that people would look up to me. Maybe if I was a teenager and saw a woman on stage wearing crazy costumes, singing and playing an instrument and was trying to make people feel good, I would probably look up to her. So if that’s what’s going on for them then I’m so totally amazed. However, I almost don’t want to talk about it because it seems really weird!”

How important is playing live to The Noisettes?

“It’s so important. You’re truly in the moment and you’re partly taking some responsibility and involvement in a moment which people might not ever forget in their lives. It could be a turning point. You’ve got to remember that out in the audience it might be someone’s first gig, it could be that someone has just split up with their boyfriend and wants cheering up – you never know what you’re responsible for when you’re up there. So you’ve got to give it your all, and you truly morph yourself into different moods and be quite emotionally generous on stage. Like I said before, with our first album that’s how people heard about us – by playing live. We didn’t have poster campaigns and TV advertising campaigns; the live gigs proved to be a window that allowed people to buy our music. I’m eternally grateful for that.”

What was the first gig you ever went to?

“I’ve been seeing gigs since I was about six or seven because my mum used to put on gigs by world music artists in the 1990s and late ’80s. I used to go to quite a lot of those. However, I definitely remember going to see Bobby Brown at Wembley – I think that was 1989 and I couldn’t really see and had to go on someone’s shoulders, and it was amazing especially with all the dancers.”

You’re heading out on a nationwide tour this week, is it just a case of business as usual?

“There’s no business as usual here! We try to not treat going out on the road as business as usual, as that probably means you’re just looking at it as a job and standing up and thinking of England! We’re definitely going to pull some rabbits out of the hat on this one.”

Are you now living your childhood dream?

“Definitely! It’s absolutely a dream come true. I haven’t stopped dreaming either. I’ll always be a dreamer!”

• The Noisettes play Bournemouth’s 02 Academy on Wednesday.

For tickets, visit o2academybournemouth.co.uk.