When you are secondary school there is always a "pocket of kids that like dusty old records" says Dominic McGuinness, lead singer of Essex band The Bohicas.

In the early Noughties at Trinity Catholic High School in Woodford Green it was Ilford boy Dominic and his friends Brendan Heaney from Chingford and Dom John from Wanstead who would huddle round listening to The Beatles and Ray Charles as well as the new breed of emerging bands such as Kings of Leon and White Stripes.

It wasn't long before the 13-year-olds decided to pick up some instruments and give it a go themselves but they soon discovered it was harder than it looked.

"We did an after school thing with Phil Mullen where you could play pop and rock and roll and we came together for a gig at the Kenneth Moore Theatre in Ilford and Phil come on stage in front of all the parents and said 'OK we have got the greatest underage band in Essex for you now', we were called the 88s at the time, and we walked on to massive applause and there was no sound coming from the keyboard.

"All you could hear was the sound of a finger hitting the plastic. It went so wrong"

So how did it go from there to The Bohicas being named 'Ones to Watch in 2015' by global music streaming service Spotify, releasing debut album The Making Of in August and going on tour, with a gig in St Albans this week?

Dominic, now 25, says all started to come together about three years ago when the band, then named Swanton Bomb, finally found that elusive bass player they had been missing all through school.

"I met him in the studio when my brother Eugene was recording his album. He had this guy come in on double bass and it was Adrian (Acolatse) and we just stole him immediately and then Dom came back from university and it all gelled and made sense.

"I remember the first practise we had as a four-piece. We use to travel to Camden Roundhouse, they have this membership for 16 to 25s and you can hire a tiny room for a few pounds which was perfect for us."

They started gigging around London as The Bohicas (pilot slang for Bend Over Here It Comes Again) and got their first taste of success when double A-side XXX and Swarm was a hit down under and they were asked to go on tour in Australia and Tokyo.

They have also played alongside Franz Ferdinand a few times, as they are also signed to record label Domino, and lead singer Alex Kapranos invited them to do a gig at Ibiza Rocks with them.

"It was loads of drunk Brits and these guys in leather jackets in 25 degree heat, " laughs Dominic. "It was a bit the deep end for us but it was really good.

"We were also given the opportunity to film the video for XXX and Swarm and it was all quite glamorous and rock and roll."

Their debut album was well received by critics and they band has been sharing it with fans across the UK with dates at respected venues such as The Square in Harlow tonight (Dec 2), Sub89 in Reading (Dec 7) and they will be helping play out the year at KOKO London on December 31.

Recorded at the Fish Factory studio in Dollis Hill, Dominic says the songs are "proper band stuff".

"Until now we have been reeling out the older, crappier tunes so it's dead exciting that we will finally be playing them and people will be hearing them."

Dominic frankly confesses that when it comes to the inspiration for the songs: "It isn't about anything. It's just stuff that sounds cool when you sing it. I'm not that clever really.

"I write a lot of the lyrics but I can't do the whole thing otherwise I'm Hitler."

But the self-confessed "huge Beatles nerd" says the dream is to be as popular as the Fab Four and hopes the album will prove a turning point for them.

"We are all bracing ourselves for something big."

The Bohicas will play The Horn in Victoria Street, St Albans on Sunday, December 6. Details: thehorn.co.uk, thebohicas.com