“Some things are based on the truth and an awful lot are completely made up,” says The Wave Pictures frontman, Dave Tattersall, of his lyrics. “I like to take something that wasn’t very significant and make it into something very dramatic.”

Like the title track from their debut, Instant Coffee Baby, about the time he burnt himself on a coffee machine he had stolen from a girlfriend’s ex-boyfriend? “Yeah. The fact you’re telling it in a song makes it much more important.”

This logic enables The Wave Pictures to sing about the big things – love and friendship – by way of pickled eggs, marmalade and Muhammad Ali. Then there’s the likes of, Friday Night In Loughborough, which sounds like your average night out in a provincial town – binge drinking, street fights and crap clubs.

That particular song, which involves Tattersall scrapping with a member of the armed forces, is an example of where fact often meets fiction for the band. “Well, I picked an argument with a marine,” says a sheepish Tattersall. “But we didn’t exactly have a fight.”

The band have been around for years but it was only with last April’s Instant Coffee Baby the music world finally pricked up its ears and listened. For the most part the critics liked what they heard – The Wave Pictures have been compared to the likes of Jonathan Richman and The Velvet Underground – but there has been the odd remark regarding Tattersall’s unusual voice.

One critic compared it to “the classic tuneless rock whiners who turned non-singing into an art form”, but the singer takes these things on the chin. “Well, I’m not thrilled,” he laughs. “But it doesn’t keep me up at night.”

Tattersall and bass player Franic Rozycki grew up together in Wymeswold near Loughborough, the latter meeting drummer Jonny Helm at university in Cardiff. They resettled in London and have since played with their heroes Herman Dune – Tattersall even got to record a John Peel radio session with them.

“That was really amazing. I’d never been in a proper studio at that time. It was really exciting to be with them. We went out for dinner with John too. I was so shy, I couldn’t speak.”

They’ve just been to see another hero of theirs, Jonathan Richman, play in London. “It was amazing,” says Tattersall, who admits he does worry about being constantly compared to the American singer.

“We’re big fans of Jonathan Richman but I sometimes think people might be disappointed by us if they compare us to him.”

The Wave Pictures new album, If You Leave It Alone, is out on May 4.

  • 8pm, £7, 01273 603974