In fact, the success of debut single We Cry marks quite a turn-around for some members of the Dublin trio.

"I'm not going to romanticise it, where we grew up was a s***hole," says Mark Sheehan, production whizz and guitarist of the outfit.

"It was stealing cars, all the usual, but music gave me a sense that I could break away. I know it sounds like a cliche, but to me, as a kid, that was my way out."

And with the sultry Maroon 5-ish single teeing up debut album The Script on August 11 – the day of their Carling Academy show – the plot seems to be thickening.

Danny O'Donaghue, keyboard player and singer, also found distraction in music.

"I spent a lot of my childhood singing when the other kids were outside playing football and getting into trouble," he recalls.

"One day I heard Stevie Wonder singing and the hairs on the back of my neck went up. I didn't even know people could sing like that – I'd never heard the acrobatics of it before.

"So I'd try and emulate all those records, even down to the string arrangements. Some of the best singers have emulated a musical instrument – Amy Winehouse is a saxophone – but the violin is the one for me, the vibrato. You can bring so much heartfelt emotion in."

Danny and Mark met in their early teens in the rundown James Street area of Dublin, near the Guinness brewery, with a shared obsession with music, in particular American black music.

"At that time MTV only came on in Dublin after midnight," says Mark. "It was the fuzzy channel, and for my generation black culture was a wave through us all. It wasn't about gangs and guns – it was fashion and fun, singing and dancing."

The pair started as a backroom team making demos for other artists, but when they met Glen Power the dynamic shifted, according to Mark.

"He is the funkiest drummer around with real energy and swing but Glen is also a fantastic guitarist, a fantastic keyboard player and he sings too."

Together they devised their brand of Celtic soul, blending hip hop lyrical flow with pop melodiousness, state-of-the-art R'n'B production with anthemic rock dynamics, classic song construction with gritty contemporary narratives.

"Individually, we all had our own talents, but together it just went to another level," says Danny, who reckons they found their style easily.

"Irish people have soul. It comes from generations of pain and understanding emotion to be able to physically get that in a solid sound.

"Soul is not a black thing or a white thing, it's a human thing," insists Mark. "There is something about the way a voice encapsulates a person."

Invited to the States to collaborate with their production heroes, including modern R'n'B stars Dallas Austin, Teddy Riley, The Neptunes and Rodney Jerkins, it was tragic events closer to home that provided emotional fuel.

When Mark's mother became terminally ill, the trio returned to Dublin.

"That was pulling on my heart strings in a big way.
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