OPERAHOUSE

Given the opportunity to describe their own sound before that particular right is taken away from them by an imminent swarm of hyperbole employing critics, Operahouse guitarist and vocalist Alexander Kaines – who shares these duties with his fellow songwriter, Johnny Lloyd – chooses to describe it thus: “A big, epic, sci-fi thing.”

Big and epic is about right. Released by Marrakesh Records (a label set up by the people responsible for unearthing The Killers), the band’s upcoming debut album is a heroic, barnstorming entrance worthy of the Pyramid Stage on a Saturday night. Produced by Richard McNamara from those similarly minded peddlers of BIG anthems, Embrace, the album was made, says Johnny Lloyd, with all of the urgency, passion and craft of a band who know that “you just don’t get a second chance at this sort of thing.”

Operahouse have built a sound that towers over their young Britrock peers just like Babel would’ve done over Eiffel. Their educational building blocks were Radiohead (just listen to the ‘OK Computer’ squiggles on ‘Machine Palace’), The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Blur (listen to their lairy ‘Down In Electric’) and Velvet Underground. These foundations are strengthened by a rare kind of ambition and total, indefatigable belief in what they’re doing. It means that when the band are asked who they wouldn’t mind being compared to Johnny will immediately fire out names such as Thom Yorke, John Lennon and David Bowie (“Just his greatest hits, mind”) without even a hint of irony or sarcasm.

“If you don't have dreams and ambition,” he says, “what's the point of doing this? We could go and start another band tomorrow and not put the effort in, but only if we were happy gigging at the 333 every night. We’re realistic about where we are. We know we're not the biggest thing in the world. But we want to be.”

“There’s a lot of indie pop out there,” adds Alex, “like The Wombats and The Enemy, and it’s all, like, two-chord verse, four-chord chorus. We try and sculpt songs and make them more like a piece of work, more like a piece of modern music. Not just another indie pop song.”

Much less dramatic than their fizzing, euphoric rock would suggest is the formation of Operahouse. The story goes like those of a hundred British bands before them: Johnny met Jimmy Cratchley (on bass) at school in Rugby before hopping on a train to London, where he met Alex (in a north London café, apparently) and the three of them, all 22, set about following their dreams. Ben Niblett, still just 19, was brought in to wield the sticks, while mutual friend and keyboardist Dan White was drafted in recently.

The band have built up a live rep already and their three singles thus far (‘Man Next Door’, ‘Born A Boy’ and ‘Diane’) have been hailed by Zane Lowe, among others. But Operahouse say they’re really just arriving. After the initial burst of interest they took stock of things and Johnny, Alex and co realised that they didn’t want to be “just another indie rock band.” In fact, simply being called indie rock pains Johnny; it’s something he thinks has become a capture-all misnomer for any young band with a guitar, no matter how big their dreams.

Starting again, they hid away in McNamara’s Halifax studio and worked on a vision that’s got wider and more glorious, taking in the off-kilter punk-pop of the Pixies, Britpop sing-alongs, a psychedelic, cosmos exploring Klaxons, the swinging, angst-ridden anthems of Modest Mouse and Bright Eyes, and the ecstatic, soaring songs of Arcade Fire. You simply can’t argue with Johnny when he says that Operahouse are back “sounding fresh, with fresh songs. Almost like a new band.”

But what did Alex mean by “sci-fi thing”? The clue is in ‘Change In Nature’, a song about both climate change and the first monkey to be sent into space. As you might expect from a band with such wild, untamed ambition, it’s not for them the confessional, kitchen sink drama.

“We love sci-fi films and books,” says Alex.

“With everything that’s going on in the news,” continues Johnny, “like global warming, Richard Branson trying to build commercial space craft, it’s everywhere. We’re genuinely interested in it. It opens people’s minds. If you hear about something in the news that might sound a bit sci-fi now, then the people watching will already be starting to think outside the box, which is only good for the future.”

With their sights already dangerously aimed at the rock exosphere, you’ll be hearing a lot more from Operahouse in 2009. Leaving the band to talk grandiosely about their future plans – with all the exaggerated hand and arm movements – their peak is a long way off.