"I only do TV interviews nowadays," Ali Youngblood jokes backstage at Manchester University's Academy 3. A breathless monsoon of innuendo, wisecracks, and drawled chuckles, the 24-year-old keyboardist for one of the most talked-about bands of 2008 doesn't seem fazed by the attention.

Something strange is going on in Hartlepool tonight. Through the freezing salty mist of this sedate British seaside town, a crowd of impeccably turned-out kids are fighting for space in the queue outside a run-down venue. They're here to see the curiously named Dead Eyed Bitches, a band that appeared, pictureless, on MySpace four months ago.

"I used to get night terrors," says These New Puritans' singer/guitarist Jack Barnett, backstage before a show in South London. "I once saw a ghost -- a glowing blue cat in my room -- and these purple and yellow orb things. It was really scary."