The Faders are starting their career with the idea – call them crazy – that just because they’re teenage girls doesn’t mean they have to be a Teenage Girl Group. In a nutshell, here’s what Toy, 19 (bass, gothic “mien”), Molly Lorenne, 17 (guitar/vocals, crimson hair) and Cherisse Osei, 18 (drums, muscles) do: Sing. Play instruments. Write songs. Dig Nirvana, John Bonham of Led Zeppelin and Adam Ant. Claim to have been raised by wolves (that’s Toy). And fail to understand why more female groups don’t realise the thrilling noise created by slamming together pop, punk and uncommonly fine wit.

Here’s what they don’t do: Dance onstage (unless they’ve lost a bet). Sloganise (“That Spice Girls ‘Girl Power’ thing totally bypassed me” says Toy). Forget that a band are only as good as their songs. Date celebrities (though Cherisse wouldn’t say no to a tryst with Usher or D’Angelo). Expect to be taken any less seriously than a male band.

Regarding that last one – they know the hurdles female groups can expect to face, even in 2005, and they say, Bring it on. As Toy puts it, with the air of someone equal to a juicy battle, “Adam Ant’s line, ‘Ridicule is nothing to be scared of’, is one of our favourite lines as a group.” But anyone who insists on seeing them as just “a girl group” will be surprised to learn that, between them, there’s a diploma from the Brighton Institute of Modern Music, years of experience as a heavy-metal drummer and a stint fronting a jazz band. So they have nothing to prove.