The meteoric rise of Palma Violets has been built on sweat, unbelievable live shows, a bit of mystery and, did we mention sweat? Chris Price caught up with indie music’s new upstarts.

With little known about south London foursome Palma Violets, rumour had it they got signed to their label Rough Trade on the strength of just one song.

The actual story is very different, involving weeks of gigs in their dingy studio, starting a music scene from scratch, copious amounts of beer and some memorabilia from the Jimi Hendrix Experience.

“The record industry just loves to talk poop. It just gets so twisted,” said the band’s Will Doyle, 20, outside a Travelodge in Hull, midway through their first UK tour, which arrives in Kent this week.

The Palma Violets story began in Studio 180, their home and recording space in Lambeth, where they would invite everyone they knew to come and see them play. Then a chance meeting with Tom Travis, Rough Trade A&R man and son of the label’s founder Geoff, kicked off a frenzy of industry hype surrounding London’s new garage rock wildchilds, a la the Strokes.

“There were some music reps coming down because they were being told to come down and you could tell they didn’t want to be there because they were just on their phones the whole time,” said Will who appeared on the cover of NME with the rest of the band earlier this month. When they came down they would say ‘do you want anything?’ and we didn’t buy any cigarettes or beers for two weeks. We were getting taken out for free lunches all the time.

“When we met Tom we had three songs and he said ‘I really like your stuff. Can I take your number?’ to Sam [Fryer, vocalist and guitarist] but Sam forgot to take his, so we were just waiting.

“Our manager invited loads of people to watch us play. When Rough Trade came, we had four songs by then and they were like ‘yeah we like you’ and we said ‘that’s it, done, Rough Trade, nothing more needs to be said.’

The band’s new label wasted no time in getting the band out of their south London home – which they still have sights on playing gigs at again – and linked them up with producer Steve Mackey, the bassist from Pulp. Their debut single, Best of Friends, was released this week and they have tracks ready for the debut album, with the aim to record the rest in November, after their tour.

Industry professionals desperate for a new guitar band have made a lot of the chemistry between guitarist Sam Fryer, 20, and bassist Chilli Jesson, 19, who share vocal duties, with the band completed by the cool keyboards of Pete Mayhew, 20.

Drummer Will said: “It is not always just about the music. Our studio was always a big thing because we turned it into a scene by bringing people to us. The bromance between Sam and Chilli is another thing.”

There is also the suggestion each member is trying to out do each other on stage, something Will rejects, despite wearing a nightie at each gig, which belonged to Mitch Mitchell, the drummer from the Jimi Hendrix Experience.

“One of Pete’s friends works in a charity shop and Mitch’s wife came in after he died, with a load of his stuff. There were two nighties. Pete said he wanted both of them but some other kid wanted one as well, so they split it and I got one of them. The kid got a chequered one and I got a stripy one.

“The first time I wore it we got our first ever encore at a festival in Cornwall. We played at 8pm and this was after the Secret Garden Party Festival so we were all just a wreck, basically, but it was a really nice little festival – the sun was out and everything – and everyone was collectively better.

“I didn’t drop my sticks and I honestly put it down to the nightie.”

Will could not hide his excitement about the band’s gig at Tunbridge Wells’ Forum.

“That’s the one that is the toilets isn’t it? It won best small venue in Britain from NME. We are really looking forward to playing it. The fact it used to be toilets makes me really want to see it. My manager said ‘we are going to get you to play there’ and I thought, ‘sick.’”

Palma Violets play Tunbridge Wells’ Forum on Saturday, October 27, with support from Childhood. Tickets £7. Visitwww.twforum.co.uk. The band’s debut single, Best of Friends, was released Monday.