Heralded by music big-wigs as “The New Nirvana”, Nine Black Alps' debut album Everything Is showed that despite their vague labelling, there is more depth to them than songs about teen spirit.

Catching up with lead guitarist and singer Sam Forrest in Nottingham, Rob Stares covers Buddy Holly, washing up and nymphomania…

Whilst the support acts blast through their soundcheck in the main venue, Sam Forrest is perched on a rickety round table in the deserted club that sits snugly next doors to Nottingham Rock City's sought-after stage.

Battling to be heard above the dense racket is tough enough for anyone, but Sam is nursing a sore throat from the current tour, which took a turn for worse the night before.

During angst-fuelled anthem Cosmopolitan , it became apparent that Sam could hardly sing a note. He had lost his voice, causing the final UK tour of debut album Everything Is to be a struggle rather than an all-out celebration.

Feeling quite concerned about how long I should keep Sam talking for, I push the Dictaphone toward him like his onstage microphone and hope I don't jeopardise anything…

Why do you think people like Nine Black Alps?
    "I think some of it is because we play fairly playful sing-along songs. I think the best thing that's been said to me was when someone told me that her five-year-old daughter really liked us, so if it means that we can bypass 'student-taste-culture', it's got to be good.
    "I would like to think we create something instinctive hopefully, which isn't too intellectual - without being stupid! It's a balancing act."

When you look toward your second album, is there any particular sound you want to take from your debut and move forward with?
    "I did think about doing less distortion for a while, but distortion songs are the ones that generally come out best. I think it's what we can do best, even though I'd like to do something different in the long run but not wanting to sound like Nickelback or something (smiles).
    "Some of the songs we're coming out with so far have been far too poppy, it's all completely Buddy Holly kinda-thing. I don't know if that really translates to the 21 st Century, but fuck it, we'll play it anyway! (laughs)."

You're playing in the US from March till the end of April (2006), Is there any desire or plan to ‘make it' over there?
    "No, I don't think any of us take it that seriously to think we're gunna “crack the ‘States”, but I'd like to see while we're out there. It's something about how the way things went down in England last year, about people's tastes and things, we didn't really fit in - we just got kinda labelled “new, neuveau grungers” every time…

Like the ‘New Nirvana'…
    "Yeah I know, and that's probably gunna happen in America as well too. But I want to do it right over there, ‘cause the last year we've been doing things or making decisions which we might not enjoy.
    "There's certain photographs that it'll kill me to even look at, and some of the videos I just think “what were we thinking there?!” Its like America next time round, ‘cause they've only just got our album officially, so we'll try and do it right this time.
    "With the Just Friends video, we did a live video even though we didn't want to do a live video. It's a shoot where you realise you're singing a really personal song, but everyone else around you in the room is getting paid so much more than you are - which is a really weird situation to be in.
    "They're going to keep their jobs at the end of this, but were not. That's why we like to do things ourselves and keep the cash! (chuckles)."

Are you looking to make some sort of impact at all in your own way and get something positive from it all then?
    "Well yeah! Playing with decent bands for a start is all we‘ve ever wanted. For example when you're playing with bands in England at festivals you play with bands you fucking hate, and you just feel like you're contending with them, and you just wonder why you're doing this, whereas in America you might open for some bands who are proper American bands who aren't complete cocksuckers."

Do you still feel the same vibe or energy from the larger gigs than you do at the smaller ones?
    "Yeah, well really what I find with shows is that I spend half of my time just staring out into the crowd, watching people smacking each other! Glasgow for example was the most violent gig I've ever seen, there were full-grown men just decking each other right in front of us!
    "It is weird though, because you do see hundreds of people just at the bar talking to each other and texting their mates while were playing, which is why I don't look too much."

Do you find that disconcerting?
    "That's the worst thing about festivals really. There will be people just sitting around reading the programme about how you're the new Nickelback or something! [Laughs]. That sort of thing is always going through your head."

During this interview, it must be noted that Sam is straight-forward with his answers. He doesn't have any ‘rock star ego' that can be seen with notable success and acclaim, and he always comes forward as a guy who likes to poke fun at rock clichés and general misconceptions about a musicians life. I didn't ask him if he had seen This is Spinal Tap , but I felt like I didn't need to ask…

With camera phones nowadays at gigs, do you find that...
    "[Dispairingly] That's Fucking hell! I swear, every time we play [acoustic track] Intermission now, the camera phones just raise! [Laughs] They're the new cigarette lighters nowadays; you can just see the lights from it and its just terrifying really! Occasionally I watch and think, “That's nice!”"

If all the work paid off and you suddenly became rock superstars - how would you cope?
    "I don't think there is any way you can live your life differently than how you live it, so I don't know. We toured with The Kaiser Chiefs when they were getting pretty big, and they seemed to be the most - I don't want to say boring, but - down to earth, rock star people.
    "They didn't do drugs, they didn't really drink that much. It seems that it's the struggling bands who feel like they have to do this whole “rock and roll!” thing. I'd become really boring! [Laughs]."

Do you feel that there is still this sense of trying to cling onto that “rock and roll lifestyle”?
    "It seems that if you want to become something that you need to have a story behind you. It seems that you either have to be massively successful, or if you're a smaller act, you need to have some other story behind you - so a personality defect like drug addiction, nymphomania or some weird relationship where you might be going out with someone really famous. If you're not doing one or the other - like us - you seem to end up falling through the cracks."

Going back to the compliment involving the five year old earlier, what other compliments have you heard when you're touring that stick out for you?
    "There's generally been some sad stuff. With Queens of the Stone Age, [lead singer and founding member] Josh Homme said that he “liked our bass-tone”. It's things like that that stick with you, when the people who you idolise turn round and say something nice to you…"

Do you feel like you are still a music fan?
    "Oh completely! When we go to festivals, were running around trying to go see P J Harvey or Snoop Dogg or anything! It's insane being able to go backstage at festivals like that, its ace!"

Do you ever feel frustrated about the lack of publicity on daytime radio?
    "I don't think so. I think I heard Unsatisfied when I was washing up at home, and it just sounded wrong. It sounded really out of place, and I'm kind of happy for it not to be there.
    "I remember when I was working in the stockroom of HMV all day it would be Radio One playing stuff like Ja Rule or Mariah Carey, so I think people would rather hear that than some whingeing idiot, whingeing on about how “unsatisfied” I am! [Laughs]."

Sam has made the Q&A session feel more like a chat with an old friend you haven't seen for a few years. Un-perching himself from the rickety table, he seems more like a star-struck fan lost for words rather than the man on stage.

Maybe some of the Gene Simmons arrogance is needed to become a multi-millionaire rock star, which is why Nine Black Alps may not have reached the echelons which some had predicted with their debut LP.

They may never be the faces on billboards across the globe, but what they lack in gun-toting arrogance, they make up with a refreshing ethic to just produce the best damn music that they can make.

It may not win them mega-bucks, but it will earn them places in people's hearts – which is the biggest outcome a band can ever hope for.