Modestep are a band.

It maybe seems odd that this needs to be pointed out, but so much has been said during their whirlwind rise about what they are or are not that it really bears repeating. Forget “popstep”, “rockstep”, “ravestep”, “rock'n'rave”, post-this, neo-that and second-generation-the-other – Tony (25), Josh (23), Matt (25) and Nick (25) are a band above all. A very modern band, yes, with all kinds of contemporary high-tech twists and flourishes to their sound, and a powerful internet presence, but a real live band nonetheless with weighty songwriting and sweaty, in-your-face performance at the heart of what they do.

Perhaps the confusion is understandable, though: brothers Tony and Josh Friend did come to prominence first as dubstep producers and DJs, of which more in a moment. But before that – for ten years before that, in fact – they were songwriters. The two were avid music lovers from early childhood in the far-flung north London suburb of Barnet, and as soon as they had computers were recording song ideas. Both shared a magpie attitude to music of all genres, with Josh tending to the more soulful sounds of Stevie Wonder, Donny Hathaway and Jeff Buckley and Tony, as his copious and vivid tattoos attest, immersed deeply in the rock world, obsessed with Slipknot, Metallica and even more brutal hardcore acts like Carnifex and Waking The Cadaver. As their adolescence progressed, they accumulated recording gear and honed their songs together and separately, growing in confidence but not quite finding their own sound.