586 burst into my consciousness last year with a brattish, glitter strewn tantrum of a song called 'We Got Bored'. It's the kind of song that grasps your attention by throat and throttles it until you get up on your feet and dance. About as subtle as a dayglo pink masonry brick, but damned good fun at the same time. As such, I'd pretty much written this article in my head already when I arrived at The Spitz on New Year's Eve - adjectives like 'shouty', 'youthful' and 'excitable' were cued up ready to be inserted amongst references to jumping up and down in bedrooms, and attitude being more important that musicianship. Then I heard the rest of their set, and had to go back to the drawing board.

"‘We Got Bored’ definitely isn’t representative, the main reason we chose it as the first single is because it’s fucking catchy. And also, it had already gone in Artrocker, and we’d heard it played in clubs, so it was obviously something that people really enjoyed. But actually if you’re coming to a gig, there’s a bit more of a dynamic to it, it goes from ‘We Got Bored’ to other things." That's Deborah (vocals/synths), half of the boy/girl front pairing that makes tonight's live performance something more than just a collection of catchy pop songs.

"Because me and Steve (vocals/guitar) mostly write our songs together, and we both come from really different backgrounds of writing music and performing, it shows in the difference in our music. And also the other people in the band like Sam (bass), who’s like an avid fucking indie chick – she fucking loves Bis, you know what I mean?"

Ah, Bis - perennial sacrificial lambs to the slaughter for the 'credible' journalist, who wouldn't be seen dead doing anything so tasteless as enjoying themselves at a live show, and one of a number of bands, along with Art Brut, B-52s and The Arcade Fire, who keep cropping up in 586's reviews.

Steve: "The thing is, we all have completely different musical tastes. We all have common things that we all love, mainly indie stuff. But I listen to a lot of reggae, soul, funk, and Simon our guitarist is into hip hop & electro, Deb’s musical taste is all over the fucking place, it’s ridiculous."

"When we’re writing together, we counter each others’ excesses. So I don’t get too whiney indie boy, and Deb…"

"I’d be naked on a stage with a carrot up my arse screaming. I think I’d be a mix between Yoko Ono and Kelly Osbourne, and Steve would be some combination of Brett Anderson and some fucking awful thing from Menswe@r"

A peculiar mental image indeed, but perhaps one that sums up the bands eclectic approach to music making - check out the three tracks on their Myspace page for example, alongside 'We Got Bored', you'll find the Westside Story melodrama of 'Rags and Tags', the similarly theatrical 'Borderline Blues', and the indie stomp of future b-side 'He's Got My Measure'.

Deborah: "It's about being either a really, really sad groupie, or a really, really old retired crappy rockstar. So it’s a kind of fun, fantasy song…"
Sam: "With a Shed Seven riff in the middle."
Steve: "I’m not sure that we should be saying that."
Deborah: "No, it’s ok – you can use a riff as long as it’s shorter than four bars. Shed Seven should be grateful anyway."

586 are one of a growing number of bands using the 'power of the internet' (ugh, I feel like a Daily Mail writer typing that), to reach new fans, in particular through Myspace.

Steve: "We played a gig in Newcastle, and we were recommended that gig through someone from Detroit who’d heard us through Myspace, which is an amazing thing. It’s nice to be recommended to someone anyway, but with it being someone in a completely different country, who you’d never normally meet, it makes it even more unbelievable."

Deborah: " And there was a gig at The Metro, It was full of 15 year old kids who had found us through Myspace, and had stolen a drumstick and a plectrum and then stood outside going ‘You’re brilliant!’"
Steve: "In ‘We Got Bored’ there’s this whole clap along bit, and they all did it, without being prompted, it was like ‘Woah! Pop stardom!’"

It's always nice to see a band make an effort live, and between the glitter bombs, guitar poses and hand claps, 586 have plenty going on in that department; though their onstage antics have on occasions caused problems.
"There was one show when Steve let off a glitter bomb in someone’s face."
"This poor little sod, I did it twice – it wasn’t intentional."
"They say 45 degree angle, 45 degree angle, but no, it was just ‘bang’ right in his face."
"Anyway, there were no injuries, just some people with glitter in their beer."

Which is rather less than Martin Tomlinson of Selfish Cunt got, when living up to his band's name at a gig in London.
Steve: "I was at the back watching them play, and he was standing over the crowd throwing beer at everyone, and then I just saw someone throw this wine at him, and we were laughing at it. The next thing we know, there’s Deborah fuming saying “He threw a fucking glass of beer over me, so I threw my red wine in his face.”
Deborah: "It stopped him singing for about three minutes. But we're friends now, so it's all ok."

So lessons learned from today, never judge a book by it's cover, never throw beer over your audience without expecting to get it flying back in your face, and approach with caution if Deborah ever offers you a carrot stick. Oh, and 586 are ace - go and make friends with them at www.myspace.com/586 and download 'Rags & Tags', or read our review of their New Year's Eve show at The Spitz.

Interview & photography by Paul Madden