By Alan Wilson, Rocktalk writer

We’ve heard it so many times before, and in this current climate of new, flavour-of-the-week, NME-touted bands appearing out of the woodwork, pardon me for stifling a yawn every now and then.

But when such luminaries as Jo Whiley, Zane Lowe and Oasis and View producer Owen Morris say they’re the ones to watch, maybe it’s time to pay some attention to The Enemy.

The Coventry-based three-piece, have shot to fame over the past six months, and despite not having yet released their debut album, they’ve headlined their own tour, played at the NME awards shows and supported Kasabian and The Fratellis.

Formed in February 2006 by swaggering frontman Tom Clarke with bassist Andy Hopkins and drummer Liam Watts, their first single It’s Not OK was produced by Owen Morris who perfectly encapsulated their fiery outlook and their combination of classic British songwriting and dynamic punky attitude.

Their new single Away From Here is released in April and quite simply it’s a rock ’n’ roll monster, all searing vocals, incendiary guitars and soaring, singalong choruses, which stands up well to all the hype they’ve been surrounded by.

It coincides with their next headline UK tour which sees them at The Garage in Glasgow on April 14, a trip north that fills lead singer Tom with high anticipation.

“We’ve played in Edinburgh and Glasgow before and it’s always brilliant,” he said.

“We were supposed to play in Inverness, we travelled up once before and got all the way there but it got cancelled at the last minute.

“I definitely want to go and do another gig up there, the further north the better for me, I used to go on family holidays up to Thurso and places like that and I love it— it’s just such a beautiful country.”

Tom, Liam and Andy were working hard in another beautiful part of the country when Rocktalk caught up with them this week.

“We’re in Wales just now putting the finishing touches to the album, we’ve recorded loads of tracks for it, but I think we’ll limit it to about 12 songs, no more than that.

“I think people would get fed up if there were any more than that.

“We’re very happy with what we’ve done with the album though and I’m massively proud of what we’ve got.

“We’re making it for ourselves and for our fans and let’s face it, you have to love what you’ve done because it’ll be around for ever and you’ve got to live with it.

“There’s a few new things on it as well that the fans won’t know, a few surprises, so hopefully the fans will love it.”

After finishing off the album, Tom and the guys are heading back out next month on yet another jaunt around the country, headlining once more.

With hardly any time to rest since they first made the breakthrough with debut single It’s Not OK, it’s a familiar pattern that’s allowed them no time for reflection on their breathtaking leap from dead-end jobs to the brink of stardom.

“We haven’t had a chance to sit back and think about what we’ve done yet, it’s just been far too busy with touring and gigging,” Tom said.

“It’s just been amazing, we had no prospects at all, I was working in the Co-op and me and Andy were selling TVs.

“Liam worked in some Fed-ex office doing temporary work.

“It was funny because the very day we got the phone call that we could give up our day jobs he got made redundant.

“It’s brilliant though because this job lets you travel all over the country, we’ve seen some places we’d never have seen.

“We went up to Inverness and then the next week we were in Penzance, the other end of the country. That would never have happened without being in a band.”