White Rose Movement

As the great Adam Ant once said, "ridicule is nothing to be scared of." And on first impressions, Norfolk's White Rose Movement seem to be unafraid of any ridicule that may come their way.

They may look like they tick every retro 80s influenced box there is... studied cool insouciant frontman, spiky electro sounds, a keyboardist called Taxxi... But they have a likeable lack of pretension and an aversion to be shoehorned into any obvious '80s revivalists' categories that stands them apart from some of their preening counterparts.

Formed in 2002, White Rose Movement are Finn Vine (vocals and guitar), Jasper Milton (guitar), Owen Dyke (bass), Ed Harper (drums) and Taxxi (keyboards). Signed to Independiente in 2004, they came under the wing of producer Paul Epworth (he of Maximo Park and Bloc Party fame). Trademark pounding drums and stop/start guitars are much in evidence – (their debut single Love is a Number - released in June of last year - should have been blaring out of car stereos last summer, rather that bloody awful Bravery song), but White Rose Movement seem to eschew the usual Joy Division influences to embrace the more shiny pop aspect of the 80s. You can almost picture them shooting videos on speeding yachts in Sri Lanka and shagging a supermodel or two. But it's not something that guitarist Jasper is keen to dwell on. "We don't like getting boxed into the 80s thing… we're as much influenced by the 60s and 70s as anything else. We're pretty tight on what we all like".

What they like is a winning combination of danceable guitar pop that has found favour with the London gig mafia and – surprisingly – the club world as well. White labels of Love is a Number circulated among the DJ set long before its official release, and its something the band are keen to embrace.

"We want to be heard by as many people as possible, and we're not bothered how that happens. At the end of the day, we're not afraid of writing pop songs."

We could do with more proper pop stars like them – intelligent, glamorous, with a bit of added effortless nonchalance. With a first headline tour in March in support of their first album out at the end of the month, there should be enough opportunity to catch them looking cool. They also have a few festival dates up their sleeve, although they were strangely vague about a possible appearance at T in the Park. See them now before they get into an ugly spat with The Killers over eyeliner.