By JAYDEE LOK

alltherage@thestar.com.my

IF you’ve never heard of The Strypes before, that’s alright. They don’t expect you to know who they are, despite their ever-growing fan base.

That’s because the four of them still see themselves as average teenagers, even though they’ve been jet-setting around the world for gigs – including a tour with the Arctic Monkeys.

“I wouldn’t call us famous at all,” said drummer Evan Walsh, 17. “There seems to be some sort of a buzz about us but I wouldn’t call it fame. We can walk down the street pretty much anywhere and no one would say anything.”

It’s understandable, considering the boys are only at the beginning of what looks like a long journey in the limelight of the rock ‘n’ roll scene.

But they’ve already been getting rave reviews for their sound, which takes you back to the days of the Rolling Stones, Yardbirds and Dr Feelgood, albeit with more polished production quality.

The Telegraph in Britain wrote that The Strypes “are younger than One Direction but they rock like Simon Cowell had never existed”. Surely a compliment.

They’ve also been catching the attention of some famous folks – Noel Gallagher and the Dave Grohl have been quoted as fans of the band, and they’ve also been signed to Elton John’s management company.

There is currently no other teenage act like them in the industry and the boys are well aware of this. Yet, they seem completely oblivious to their impending superstardom.

When asked if they’d like to collaborate with any of their influential fans, they merely shrugged – as if the thought had never crossed their minds.

“We don’t really have access to those sort of musicians,” said guitarist Josh McClorey, 17.

“I think it’s more like they come to you or whatever. We couldn’t ring up Noel Gallagher and say: ‘Hey, do you wanna work on a track together?’”

But it doesn’t seem as far-fetched as they’re making it.

Just last year, the boys were touring Europe with the Arctic Monkeys, and they were also invited to fill in for Two Door Cinema Club (whose lead singer Alex Trimble was suffering from laryngitis) at the Clockenflap Festival in Hong Kong, where R.AGE was able to get a one-on-one with them.

It was a last minute thing. The four attended the interview all jet-lagged and sleepy-eyed – not quite the excitable sort you’d expect from teenage rockstars.

Frontman and lead vocalist Ross Farrelly, 15, spent the interview resting his head on the armrest of the sofa. Bassist Pete O’Hanlon, 17, dutifully held our voice recorder while Walsh and McClorey spoke (sarcastically) about how great “the occasional mind numbing monotony of touring life” is.

The boys aren’t already completely jaded with playing gigs, of course, and could still gush over how much they’ve learnt from the Arctic Monkeys.

“It’s good to see how they are because they’re very down-to-earth lads – very normal, very Northern (British),” shared McClorey. “There are no airs and graces about them. They haven’t been changed by anything that’s happened to them.”

The boys dropped out of school about a year ago when major record labels started getting really interested in their music, and because they found themselves constantly travelling to London to play shows.

But do they feel as if they’re missing out on the average teenage life?

According to Walsh, the choice was simple. The band was a now-or-never thing. Education, on the other hand, could wait.

“It seemed like the logical thing to do at the time (to drop out of school),” he said. “We just wanted to see how it would go. You can always go back to education but if we missed this opportunity, it would be gone forever.”