The Rumble Strips - Let's Get Ready To Rumble feature

“I listen to rock'n'roll/But I ain't got no soul,” runs one song. “If only this bike was a motorcycle/I'd be halfway home by now,” trills another. Bare-faced false modesty and commendable, whimsical ambition – just two of Devon leftpop mavericks The Rumble Strips' manifold qualities.

Sat in a north London pub, the band – that's singer/guitarist Charlie, trumpet/keys/vocalist Henry, sax/bass/vocalist Tom and drummer Matt – look for all the world like they've just stepped out of a hedge: a mess of unkempt hair, charity shop clobber and (possibly) leaves. “There has to be a balance between very clever and extremely stupid in music,” Charlie will say, strengthening his already compelling argument by invoking the cleverest, stupidest popstar of all, Adam Ant.

As you'll have gathered from the above list, The Rumble Strips have brass: brass instruments, sure, and brass necks for cheerfully sounding as waywardly, bizarrely exciting as pop music has sounded for some years. Half of them are currently homeless, but it doesn't seem to bother them too much; in fact, nothing – their recent deal with Transgressive, the prospect of multiple gigs at Texan festival/showcase SXSW, the fact that they Just Don't Fit In Anywhere – seems to faze them at all. Comparisons with Dexy's (the horns), The Futureheads (the close harmony singing) and The Stranglers (Charlie's voice) all fall short of what is, really, a bloody odd, wonderful noise.

They freely admit the provenance of their sound is “mistakes” – and to odd, ramshackle people do odd things happen. “This Russian guy saw us by accident in London and flew us to Moscow to play one gig,” Tom says, like it's just another day at the office, “we ended up ratted on vodka in a club full of only beautiful girls...and us. But we all fell over.” “You've always got to have a bit of a plan,” Charlie insists. My guess is they have nothing of the sort, but hey, that's what management's for. Let the rumbles begin.

The Rumble Strips release their as-yet untitled second single through Transgressive in April. The splendid video for “Motorcycle” (cost: £10) is on their MySpace page. Go seek.

Charlie Ivens