A '60s pastiche band fronted by three cuties in short polka- dotted dresses may scream 'manufactured', but Tony Clayton-Lea finds there's some genuine talent in this trio's pipes.

IF THERE'S a hint of the manufactured group about Brighton's Pipettes, then no one is letting on. Rose Pipette, speaking to The Ticket in a very noisy cafe on London's Regent Street, says that the concept of the band came about before the actual band. And the band wasn't so much formed as put together.

"Our guitarist, Monster Bobby, came up with the idea. He was a DJ/promoter when he was at university and, by being involved in the music scene around Brighton and London, he became aware that there was a big gap in music, and that whenever he put on certain records, wherever it was, they were sure to get people dancing. There was, he felt, some kind of a universal policy about pop music from the '60s - it was kinda lost over the past 10 years but it was also very well known."

And so Bobby set about recruiting three women to be the public face of the group: Rose, Becki and Julia. Whatever happened from mid-2004 (the official start-up period of The Pipettes, though they were writing songs before then) to make Julia leave in early 2005 is unknown. "These things happen all the time, don't they?" says Rose.

Julia's replacement, Gwenno, is something of a star in her native Wales, having won a couple of gongs at the 2002 Welsh Music Awards. She's also toured the globe as a member of Michael Flatley's Lord of the Dance, and she speaks Welsh and Cornish fluently. Presumably, those Lord of the Dance moves come in very handy for The Pipettes' choreographed movements.

But back to the manufactured tag. Rose is having none of it. And Gwenno? Well, Gwenno is a pro compared to Rose and Becki, and has added some much-needed efficiency to the synchronised hand and swimming arm movements that make up such an endearing part of the stage show. And besides, she looks great in a short polka-dot dress, and really, isn't it all about the music?

"We wanted to avoid falling into the same traps that so many bands fall into," says Rose. "We were desperate to escape the whole rock'n'roll cliche thing, too, the NME trendy crap that we were so bored with. Also, we wanted to try to re-evaluate what we loved about pop music, and sort of reclaim it for ourselves.

"The Pipettes came out of a frustration of what was around us. When we started writing songs it set a tone for some kind of clear idea and direction. We all knew each other, and that fitted the mission we had at the start - and Gwenno fits into all of that. Before we started playing we talked extensively about what way we wanted to go, and from then it started happening."

In fairness to The Pipettes and their hint of stage-managed success, the music is too cute to worry about whether founding member Julia walked or was pushed off Brighton Pier. Referencing the likes of Phil Spector, The Shangri-Las, The Supremes and other '60s kids, songs such as Pull Shapes, A Winter's Sky, Your Kisses Are Wasted on Me and It Hurts to See You Dance So Well work fine within the framework of revisionist pastiche. And isn't it refreshing that spotty oiks from the north of England are nowhere to be seen?

We can be thankful, also, that the backing musicians, all male, wear striped tank tops, keep a low profile, are called The Cassettes and don't wield guitars as if they're the next best thing to a gladiator's ball and chain.

"It's probably been harder for us because guitars are back," reckons Rose. "We don't really care about a lot of guitar music. So much of it is quite boring. You hear it over and over again, and I think it's all about what's cool and what isn't. It's part of the way in which NME champion certain bands and how they've become so successful in the past few years. It's set up something that has become quite standardised, and I think we've been frustrated by it."

The structure of the band automatically dictates a strong feminine input. The Pipettes might have been the idea of a man called Monster Bobby, but when push came to shove the lyric-writing and imagery ended up in the hands of the girls.

"All of us are very interested in the female voice, and we were very frustrated by the way in which a lot of women are being presented in pop music and popular culture, and that was something that none of us could really relate to. We wanted to make music that we could connect with, and to make music for people like us, who aren't necessarily the prettiest women in the world, or the skinniest or sexiest, but who exist on their own terms."

They're very good, they're fun, and their songs more or less stand up, but isn't there something of a novelty aspect to The Pipettes that could be their eventual undoing? As a cup of cappuccino makes its way over from waiter to singer, Rose says it isn't a novelty when you've been doing it for three years.

"When you've been writing songs for that length of time it's got to be serious, hasn't it? Obviously, we dress in a certain way and we behave on stage in a certain way, and a lot of it is quite silly and fun. In the context of that, it might come across as novelty and possibly will always be, but that's OK.

"Realistically speaking, We Are The Pipettes is our first record, and we're really happy with it, but we know for sure that the next one will be different. It's not as if we want to push the music on the first album as far as we can. It's a dangerous thing because we have a strong foundation already.

"We know some things about what we want to do. Not everything, though. We're open to experimenting with the format, that's for sure."

We Are The Pipettes is out now through

Memphis Industries. The Pipettes play Temple Bar Music Centre, Dublin, on October 3rd