What happened when celebrated poet and secret indie kid Simon Armitage teamed up with his best mate and fellow musician Craig Smith to form all-conquering indiepop band The Scaremongers? Indie Mp3 sought them out in a cosy London pub to get the latest gossip...

The Scaremongers are in good spirits. They’re planning some eagerly anticipated live gigs, their first single was played to death by loveable BBC stalwart DJs Mark Radcliffe and Marc Riley and, most importantly, they’ve got the pints in. We’re in a much feted and – dare I say it - trendy Covent Garden boozer, and The Scaremongers are ready to chat.

This much I know. Simon Armitage, the main lyricist and singer of the band, met fellow band member Craig Smith by chance twenty-odd years ago at Peter Samson's poetry workshops at Huddersfield Polytechnic. At the time, they were both signing on prior to heading off to college - Simon as a trainee probation officer and Craig as a trainee librarian – and with too much time on their hands, they talked of little but poetry, alternative music and football. In the evenings the duo huddled over an electric three-bar fire with only Craig’s sister’s battered guitar and a plate of toast for company, dreams of music stardom ahead of them. But, like these dreams are wont to do, nothing much materialised. It wasn’t until last year that the duo considered the idea of teaming up again and forming, like, a proper band. Somehow the pair got talking in Simon’s kitchen about bygone days and wham, before you know it, they had agreed to give it a whirl.

The first steps were tentative. Craig composed the music and had the unenviable task of devising a business strategy for the whole malarkey. Simon, for his part, wrote the lyrics and sang the songs, along with his wife Sue. As a division of labour, it worked out well. Their first Double A-Side You Can Do Nothing Wrong (In My Eyes)/Nodding Dog, released last Autumn, was a fantastic mix of northern indiepop, bittersweet vocal exchanges and swaying disco melodies. And their most recent release, Less is More/If You Ever Leave Me, continues in much the same vein with an abundance of jangles, upbeat melodies and witty, glacier cool lyrics. It will be a real treat to dance to these songs played live, and when the band mention that they are currently planning a couple of gigs later this year I can hardly contain my excitement. I have also since learned that there are also apparently rumours of a possible appearance at the wonderful Indietracks festival this summer – double hooray!

But The Scaremongers are a modest lot and, although they’re eager to play live, they’re also keen to ensure they are practice-perfect. “We just want to make sure we put on a good show - we’ll only play live when we’ve got more than four songs,” quips Simon. “We’re all in our 40s, it’s obviously too late for us now but that’s what is so fantastic about it in a way. We’re not going to be the ‘next big thing’, but we are really sincere about our songs.

“We’ve essentially tried to write songs and lyrics that appeal to every one. In our first single, one song was about running away, the other about staying at home – everyone can relate to that.” “I genuinely think the album is the artform of the 21st century,” he adds - strong words coming from someone who makes his living as a poet. Craig agrees, “We wanted to make music that we would want to listen to as well. The lyrics are really important, but it’s not about singer-songwriter territory, it’s about creating a story that draws people in.”

Despite their advanced years (!) the band are still very much in thrall to their musical inspirations and Orange Juice, Felt and The Fall are several of the many groups mentioned as influences. “I think we’d really like to be like Echo and Bunnymen, that’s certainly my ideal. They had fantastic pop melodies, but they also had very sophisticated lyrics,” muses Simon. For Craig, pop music is strongly associated with other-worldliness and escapism, and he namechecks T-Rex and other glam-popsters as his childhood favourites. Asked about their opinion on newer music, Simon cites Interpol (“They can be a bit depressing and try-hard but I do like them”), Craig mentions the recently reformed Jesus and Mary Chain and both say they liked Peter, Bjorn and John’s “Young Folks”. Simon grins, “I think whistling is going to be the next big thing.”

Simon’s eagerly-awaited book, Gig: The Life And Times Of A Rock Star Fantasist, which among other things details his experiences of forming The Scaremongers, is due to be released in April and during our interview I was highly privileged to have a sneaky peek at the manuscript. To give you an exclusive preview - it includes a quickfire, musical either/or interview with Dave Gedge of The Wedding Present, which Simon and Craig very kindly/drunkenly allowed me to carry out on them. So, for Indie Mp3 readers only, here are some pop facts about The Scaremongers. Craig prefers coffee to tea, a wet shave to an electric one, Scarborough to heaven, the deep blue sea to the devil and Macs to PCs. For his part, Simon prefers Valerie Singleton to Libby Purves, canine to feline, corduroy to denim, Blur to Oasis and Morrissey to Marr. The Scaremongers – a bundle of contradictory convictions but we love them just the same.