PACKING in a university course to fulfil a life-long dream of starting up a band was certainly one of Dave Lattimer's more daring moments.

But the 21-year-old from Groombridge appears to have few if any doubts about his decision to form three-piece rock outfit The Belgrave Scandal.

"Since I was a kid we wanted to play in a band and never did anything about it. So I just decided to come back home from my course and get it started - my parents weren’t pleased though," explained the group’s frontman on his experiences at Sheffield University studying psychology and sociology.

He says that he reluctantly took on vocal duties after his brother dropped out of the band. But if the quality of their Myspace tracks such as Brighton Away and Beady Little Eyes are anything to go by then he’s managing just fine.

Though the area in which he grew up may be more associated with its fine country residence than rock n’roll, he has high hopes for the band he formed with friends Hayden Thirkell who plays bass and drummer Dan Jenkinson.

Influenced by all the right names, from 60s stars such as The Kinks through to their closest-sounding musical relatives, The Jam, they are gaining fans fast.

They took their name partially from a road near drummer Dan’s house, but were faced with legal action by an existing group in America also named The Belgraves. But a happy accident on an early demo saw their name placed closed too close to one of their songs, Scandal, and thus their monicker took shape.

"I want to write songs with melodies that are catchy. I don’t see any point about writing music that doesn’t mean anything and with my lyrics I am interested in what people are thinking."

With a recording session at the BBC under their belts and interest from record labels on the horizon, they have good cause for optimism.

"When we told our friends we were starting the band a lot of them just laughed, but they were surprised at how good we were when we played our first gig at the Tunbridge Wells Forum back in February."

It’s a venue they have come to know well playing there several times including taking part in kmfm’s Battle Of the Bands heat. Though they were not successful with this, it is likely their time will come sooner rather than later with a strong reaction to their energetic live performances.

Having played several recent shows in the county, they are heading up to London to take on the indie circuit there.

"For some bands in big cities it’s about being part of a scene but we are just focused on the music. We get a lot of enjoyment and buzz out of playing gigs, there’s nothing that beats that, especially when you win people over who were not expecting to see you."

* The Belgrave Scandal play the The Pleasure Unit in London on November 4 and Cafe De Paris also in London on November 17.