A YEAR ago, their frontman was flogging mobile phones, now Scouting For Girls are without doubt one of the recording phenomena of the past 12 months.

Ever since their debut single, She’s So Lovely, was released late last summer, it has been impossible to ignore this London trio, who seem to have secured heavy rotation everywhere from Radio City to Radio 2.

"It’s been absolutely mental," says frontman Roy Stride. "About a year ago, I was working in a Carphone Warehouse."

After spending four weeks in the Top 10 with that catchy debut single featuring the unforgettable line "She’s flirty, turned thirty, ain’t that the age a girl gets really dirty", the band followed up with the equally memorable Elvis Ain’t Dead, which again refused to budge from the charts for weeks.

Then came the piece de resistance as their self-titled album – recorded at Helioscentric, the esteemed East Sussex studios used by the likes of Paul Weller, Elvis Costello and Keane – topped the charts, eventually going platinum in January of this year.

"That place was amazing," says Roy. "It’s got rock ’n’ roll history everywhere, even the toilet walls there are covered in gold discs. It was owned by Chris Difford, from Squeeze, and I used a piano on the album that used to belong to Jools Holland, and another that was Elton John’s."

Joining pianist Roy in Scouting For Girls are drummer Pete Ellard and bass player Greg Churchouse. Childhood friends, they played together in various bands for years in their native North London, but only formed Scouting For Girls as we now know it just under two years ago.

As former Cub Scouts – their name is a pun on the century-old outdoor pursuit manual Scouting for Boys – the trio continued to show initiative Baden Powell himself would have been proud of, by producing their own online fan club, the Wolf Cubs.

"We sent out tracks and membership cards to each of the members," remembers Greg.

"Each month we had to work out how many we could afford to pay for, and our CD drives are knackered from burning all those discs, but I think it was worth it."

It most definitely was. Now, with their cult success transferred to the charts, the trio are about to release their next single Heartbeat, out on April 7, and after last year’s super- successful tour are back on the road again.

Almost all 24 dates of the tour, which began last week, are sold out, including their gig in Liverpool, on April 19, at the University.

"Each gig was like a big party," says Roy of the last tour. "I normally say something cheesy about three or four songs in, like ‘You’re the fourth member of the band!’ The fans love that.

"It’s our aim to make sure everyone is singing along. The gigs where people get the most into it are the ones we enjoy the most."

After the smaller venues of last year, this tour has already seen Scouting For Girls play to crowds of almost 2,000. But the lads are not fazed by the numbers it seems.

"We really enjoy playing for lots of people," says Roy. "I remember doing an interview with someone the other month and they asked if I missed the intimacy of playing small gigs. But I slogged away for 10 years playing very intimate gigs, so I don’t miss them at all."

"Every day I wake up and I think, ‘This is so surreal’," Roy adds. "We see how the audience reacts to these songs and it’s the most amazing feeling. It’s just been such an amazing year for us, we’ve been so lucky."

* SCOUTING For Girls play Liverpool University on April 19.