Up and Coming interview: Boycotts

"I HATED JOE AT SCHOOL," SAYS Boycotts singer Stina Twee of her band's beginnings, "absolutely hated him. He put Vaseline in my hair during our English class in third year, and I stood up and started swearing quite violently at him. So it was me that got put out of the class and sent to the office, even though he started it. As usual! We didn't speak again until sixth year."

If there's something a bit Bash Street Kids about this origin story and the way Twee tells it, then there's no harm in that. After all, she and Boycotts' guitarist Josef K (real names Christina Tweeddale and Joe Gillies, who aren't a couple, and were both in the same year at Firhill High School near Oxgangs in Edinburgh) are both only just into their 20th years, so old school rivalries – even though the pair are in their third year at Glasgow University – are still pretty fresh.

For a group that's relatively young, Boycotts are almost unnaturally well formed, with an urgent indie sound that's surely only a bit of spit and polish away from being chart ready. In Tweeddale they also have a singer who is possibly more adept on stage than even she realises, an all-posing, all-dancing, yet still controlled performer who has a little of the Clare Grogans about her. Performing is in the family, and Tweeddale has been doing it for a long time; her father, Sandy, is a member of long-running Edinburgh blues band Blues 'n' Trouble.

Boycotts also have a fine rhythm section underpinning the jangling indie sound, who go – rather admirably – only by the names of Hardcore Dave (bass) and Dragon (drums). "Dragon's called Dragon," says Gillies, "because that's what he said once when he was asked what his favourite farmyard animal was, and it stuck. And Hardcore Dave's called Hardcore Dave because ... well, if you ever met him you'd know why he's called Hardcore Dave. These names weren't just made up on the spot, though, they're their proper nicknames. That's what we call them too." Dave and Dragon are both from Quarter, near Hamilton, and met their future singer and guitarist through mutual friends and late-night house parties at Gillies' flat in Glasgow.

Although they only played their first gig, at Glasgow's Capitol, in June last year, Gillies traces the launch of Boycotts' to last April, because that's when they set up their MySpace page. "It makes it more physical. It wasn't just the four of us then, but somewhere public we actually existed as a group," he laughs.

"I've played in bands before," continues Gillies, "but it's never felt as natural as this. The acoustic stuff Stina and I were doing before fitted together really well, and then when the others came along that just worked too. Sometimes we have to work hard on songs, but often it just comes together right away." How would he describe what they do? "I don't know, we never know how to answer that; I usually just say Scottish indie rock nowadays. Stina was compared to Harriet Wheeler of The Sundays recently, and before that we got told we were like early Blondie. Someone else mentioned (emo-poppers) Paramore, though, so I'm not really sure where we stand, how we sound to other people."

So does the band see itself as carrying on a Scottish indie tradition? "Yeah, of course," says Gillies. "My own nickname comes from a great Scottish band, and Stina does have the whole Twee thing going on." Is she really claiming allegiance to Belle and Sebastian and their followers (most of whom would probably happily lose the "twee" label) with her choice of stage name? "Nah, it's ironic really," she says, "but it is my name, or part of it, so I thought, why not use it?"

Tweeddale is diplomatic about the fact that she's emerging as the public face of the band. "It's just that being the singer I have a lot of freedom to move around on stage and, y'know, have a wee dance. Do I like performing? Yeah, I love it! I do get nervous, though – the first time I played King Tut's I lost my voice with nerves. You have to get into it, though. We're a fun band – we know that music should be a laugh."

Boycotts are currently being supported by local businessman Mark Goldinger's new What If Music project, which is funding recording sessions at Chem19 studios with sometime Mogwai and Fratellis producer Andy Miller. If the results are agreeable, they'll be brought to the attention of associated major labels in London.

In the meantime there are exams to be studied for, and much more besides. "I'm managing us at the moment," says Gillies, "and I'm learning about the business side of things, about the venues we should be playing and things like that. If we can build things up so that it comes time to make a really big push when we leave uni then great, but it's definitely our goal to make being in Boycotts our future career."

• Boycotts' next gig is at Glasgow School of Art, 11 March. Visit www.myspace.com/startaboycott for further dates.

What other people are saying …

"The sound emanating from knowingly named Stina Twee sounds like the spirit of long lost indie pin-up Harriet Wheeler of The Sundays distilled through a post Penetration Pauline Murray and melodies by Morrissey that drive and soar off somewhere out the ordinary."

– The List

"Everything is in place for this young quartet to be a big success. (The three boys) remain in the background next to singer Stina Twee, who has the style and voice to suggest she'll be doing this for a long time."

– Sunday Mail