Last time The Strypes were in Brighton a superstar slid into the back row to catch their gig at Fitzherberts.

The audience thought the chap was a joker dressed as Elton John.

Little did they know the four teenagers on stage had lunched with the Rocket Man earlier in the day.

“We were down in Brighton back in December,” explains drummer Evan Walsh, speaking from Yellow Fish studios near Lewes where the band are putting the finishing touches to their debut album.

“We were sitting down to a pub lunch and suddenly Elton John sat down beside us. He decided totally out of the blue he was going to come to this gig.

“It was bizarre playing this show and seeing Elton John at the back of the room. I think a lot of the people thought it was an impersonator.”

John signed the four-piece to his Rocket Music Management last year.

Shortly afterwards Mercury Records welcomed the band onto its roster.

Since then, drummer Walsh, bassist Pete O’Hanlon (17), guitarist Josh McClorey (17) and singer Ross Farrelly (15) have played a storming set on Jools Holland, jammed with Paul Weller at London’s Rough Trade East and been name-checked by Dave Grohl, Noel Gallagher and Jeff Beck.

“We are big Jam fans. We love the rock ’n’ roll attitude on The Jam’s first album which captures that Dr Feelgood-esque punkish thing. They very clearly have an R&B influence.

“It’s not dull or very studious but more rock ’n’ roll, proto-punk – so that had an influence on our band and it was amazing to work with him.”

All four members are from Cavan, which despite being in Ulster belongs to the Republic of Ireland. It’s a small rural community where everyone knows each other. Walsh calls it “borderland bandit country”.

O’Hanlon and McClorey’s parents knew Walsh’s parents and the three have been friends since they could talk.

They first started jamming when they were at school and barely into double figures.

It was through Evan’s dad’s record collection (Walsh’s dad led Irish new wave bunch The Fireflies in the 1980s) that his band’s tastes formed.

“The whole thing came out of our house. It’s the music I was raised on – the pub-rock bands such as Dr Feelgood, Dave Edmunds, Nick Lowe. All the Stiff Records gang as well. The 1960s blues boom bands, The Stones, The Yardbirds, The Animals, John Mayall, Pretty Things, all that stuff.

“That in turn was alongside 1940s and 1950s originators of blues and rock ’n’ roll: Howlin’ Wolf, Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Big Joe Turner, Little Walter.”

The house he still calls home is the band’s mecca.

“All those sounds would have been around when we were in nappies, when we started playing games, which eventually turned into playing instruments.

“All our parents were involved in music: in failed bands, roadies, lighting crew, all on an amateur level, so it’s in our blood.”

When singer Farrelly joined in 2010, the schoolkids recorded a four-track EP of covers, Young, Gifted And Blue, in a friend’s granny’s flat in Cavan for a bit of fun.

A couple of gigs followed and they put the EP on iTunes. It went to number one on the iTunes blues chart. An invitation onto Ireland’s most popular talk show, The Late Late Show, kicked off an industry scramble.

“We signed to Mercury because we felt out of all the offers we could trust them; they wouldn’t mess us or change us, and especially because of our age we did not want to be lumped in with all that One Direction b*****ks.”

Pub rock rhythm and blues is best in concert. The aim for the debut record, which is due in the autumn with five covers and nine originals, is to capture the live energy.

Chris Thomas, the legendary producer who sat behind the mixing desk for Sex Pistols’ Never Mind The B*****ks, U2’s How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb and worked with The Beatles, has been called in.

“We’re doing it live in the studio because we want to capture the spirit of the debut albums we really love – Dr Feelgood’s Down By The Jetty, The Rolling Stones debut, The Yardbirds’ Five Live Yardbirds.

“All those live studio albums are a document of their live set. Kind of fast and furious – and that’s what we’d like to do on our first album.”

Thomas likes to work in short sharp bursts. His method suits bands, with strong ideas and clear vision.

“All those great albums, The Pretenders’ Pretenders, Never Mind The B*****ks, he did them four days on and a week off then another four days in. We lay down the live track and we do retakes till we’re happy with our performance.

“Occasionally we bring in overdubs with organs and harmonicas, and then he spends the rest of the day mixing. It’s a track a day.”

Walsh is not one for a drink so tales of The Stones’ exploits are thin on the ground. “I myself don’t come from a drinking family. I have no interest or curiosity. We’re not interested in the drink and drugs and rock ‘n’ roll thing. We think that’s all bulls**t.”

Three members of band have left school but not Farrelly. He has to finish his exams. Is he going to pass?

“Oh, I doubt it,” say Walsh, with not a hint of irony.

  • The Strypes play Brighton Dome Studio Theatre, New Road, Brighton, and The Warren, Russell Place, Brighton, on Saturday, May 18. Starts 8.30pm at Brighton Dome Studio Theatre and 11.30pm at The Warren. SOLD OUT