In 2006, Preston stepped into the Big Brother house the lead singer of a down-on-its-luck indie band. Three weeks later he skipped out in fourth place and had a bubbly blonde love interest – Chantelle Houghton.

In the space of the following 18 months the pair married then divorced and Preston’s band, The Ordinary Boys, notched up four top-ten singles before going the way of his marriage. During that time he managed to garner a reputation as a volatile rent-a-gob after flouncing off the TV show Never Mind The Buzzcocks and the revelation (straight from his ex-wife’s mouth) that he’d banned her from wearing fake tan and watching television after 8.30pm – which, for readers unfamiliar with Chantelle, is tantamount to telling Liberace he can’t wear sequins.

Fast-forward nearly two years and, after a considerable time out of the limelight by way of an extended trip to the US, things have changed.

Today Preston is nice, very nice, and he and Chantelle are friends again. “I tried to keep a low profile because I just thought it was the best way. I didn’t want to get into the whole ‘he said, she said’ thing with Chantelle. It’s crushing getting divorced. I just think it’s… I don’t know why she said those things, she wouldn’t say them now.”  The 27-year-old is the first to admit he “acted like a p**** for two years” but, for the record, he regrets (almost) nothing. Not Big Brother, not the Hello- documented marriage.

One thing he really does regret, however, is the very public sulk on Never Mind The Buzzcocks [he stormed off the set], brought on by host Simon Amstell making fun of Chantelle’s autobiography – Living The Dream. “I was an idiot,” he now admits.

He worries his behaviour – which to be honest really wasn’t that bad in the Paris-Hilton scheme of things – may yet ruin his dream of becoming a proper pop star.

“I behaved like a massive p****, and that is a massive hindrance when you’re trying to get your songs on the radio.

“For the people who like me there’s as many who hate me, and I’ve only just been able to accept that in a non-maniacal way. I’ve been able to say, ‘Fair enough, that obstacle has to be addressed’. I can look at it sensibly I suppose.” In his defence he says he was young and caught up in the excitement.

“Anyone in their early 20s acts like a p****. I thought I was a big rock star and I was trying to play the part”.  The huge slice of humble pie Preston is currently scoffing can only help with his solo album – Whatever Forever – which is due out later this month. Things are already looking up: the first single, Dressed To Kill – a ridiculously catchy Duran Duran-sounding dollop of pop – has been played on Radio 1 and Radio 2, but Preston wants it to make the playlist. “I want it to be a hit.”

Then there’s the fact journalists (including myself) have been pleasantly surprised by him. “After a couple of interviews people have said, ‘I was really worried you were going to be an idiot, but you’re not.’ It’s hard to know how to take that but I’m glad people don’t think I’m an idiot.”

Self-flagellation aside, there’s Preston’s change in musical direction which has seen him shy away from the Ordinary Boys’ ska-influenced indie to pure pop – a decision he made himself.

“It just happened that way. Maybe it’s partly due to the fact I wanted to play all the instruments but I’m not amazing at drums so I started using electronic drums and it just started sounding like pop.”  The video for the single is a very hammy take on the cult 1980s vampire film The Lost Boys, and sees Preston decked out in a pair of giant fangs and writhing around with a pretty girl in red nylon. “Do you remember those ads at the back of the Beano for sweets that made your tongue go blue, and fake flies in ice cubes? Well, that’s what those fangs were like. They were really disfiguring but they were meant to be sexy.”

While the fangs and video most definitely sunk on the sexy front, his music has apparently been going down well. The Popjustice website declared the album “really very good” and gave it the award for “most surprising pop comeback/reinvention type thing of 2009”, and his recent appearance at a Sheffield pop festival (which he Tweeted he was “absolutely terrified” about) also went rather well.

Then there’s also been his recent turn on Big Brother’s Little Brother – the Big Brother spin-off which sees pop psychologists, former contestants and the public dissect the inner workings of the house. He’s been watching this year’s show (he’s backing Siavash) and was shocked by the news a recent evictee ended up in hospital. “Did you hear that Sree cut his wrists after leaving the show? It’s crazy.

“It feels like the show itself is just a formality. People go into the programme because they want to win, not on the inside but on the outside. It changes the whole dynamic. The real show is watching people scramble for media attention afterwards.”

You might argue there’s a touch of pot calling the kettle going on here, but Preston has insisted in the past he went on Big Brother because he liked the show and it’s well documented the rest of the band did not want him in there. But they appear to have forgiven him and today he’s wandering Brighton’s Pavilion gardens with former bandmate Simon and commenting (possibly hypocritically coming from a man covered in the things) on tattooed teenagers. “So many young people in Brighton have tattoos on their necks – it’s awful,” he says, before telling me he’s just booked himself in for another one. “It’s a narwhal. A big whale-like mammal with a massive long tusk. There’s not much room left but I’m going to have it wrapped around my elbow. It’s definitely the last.”

He lives in Brighton and, as well as working on his album, has been busy songwriting for a lot of “shiny, happy people” in the US. Among them are some seriously stellar pop stars but the singer is refusing to name names, “in case it doesn’t happen and then I’ll look silly”. As for the future, there are no plans other than wait and see.

“I’ll be in a position in a month or so to make some decisions. It could all just not happen and then I’ll have to pack up my stuff and back out. But the album could come out and everything might go great, and then I’ll try and make more and more records.

“It’s just great that people are responding to the music and I’d like to think that’s enough.” Here’s hoping…