With the possible exception of Cast, there is surely no other band in England who possess as many of the basic rudiments of Britpop in their genetic make-up as Symposium do. The West London five-piece manage to personify English indie, '98 vintage, in excelsis - all gurning faces in photo sessions, standardised guitar riffery, riotous live performances and chaotic appearances on TFI Friday. Their sheer force of personality alone stops you from wanting to shoot them.
Not that this prevents singer Ross Cummins from succumbing to the occasional attack of cliché-itis. When I ask him where he would place his band stylistically, he responds with a quote so banal it's practically wearing a Celine Dion t-shirt.
"We're just a rock band with good songs," says Ross, as I mentally close that file on my computer marked Quotes Of The Year. "We cover the spectrum - it's punk, it's pop, y'know."
Like hundreds of bands before them, Symposium followed the usual path from London obscurity to music weeklies covers, gigging incessantly at fleapit venues around the capital, scraping minute amounts of airplay from sources such as Radio One and XFM, and getting handed the occasional NME Single Of The Week accolade. At an early stage in their careers they inked a deal with Infectious Records, also home to Ash and Pop Will Eat Itself. The latest stage of their masterplan commences next month with the release of their debut album, On The Outside.
"Compared to the last mini-album we did, it's not as punky," comments Ross. "It's veering towards the more rock side of things. We're doing four-minute songs now, which for us is long (laughs). It's a little darker than our other stuff. Every song on the album is like a mood, every type of mood is present on the album. There are a few melancholic songs and a few inane songs."
What's his favourite song on the new album?
"Probably a track called 'Bury You', which'll be out as a single. It was one of the first songs we ever wrote. It's comparatively ancient."
Symposium's irrepressible rise to prominence was halted only briefly by Ross breaking his leg. It was perhaps fitting that the injury should have occurred during - you guessed it - a live show.
"We were supporting No Doubt at Brixton Academy," he remembers. "It was in the middle of the first song. I should have done it while stagediving - I guess if you're gonna break your leg, you might as well do it for a good reason (laughs). But I just turned around the wrong way and it popped out. I think it was because that whole year I was throwing myself around onstage and my leg got weakened. Also, I used to skate as well, which involves a lot of banging around."
Last summer's appearance at Glastonbury proved to be marginally more enjoyable for the band, however, with matters coming to a suitably scatological climax.
"We're not sure whether they'll let us back this year," rues Ross. "The weekend we were there, last year, it was pissing down with rain the whole time and it was really muddy. We played on the Sunday and everybody was just knackered. So we got everybody in the crowd to each pick up a piece of mud and sling it at us - for the whole gig we were having mudfights with the audience. Great fun, but the stage got ruined and they had to close it down when we came off. I don't think Michael Eavis was too impressed (laughs)."
Speaking of gigging, what was his reaction to Melody Maker's front cover last year proclaiming Symposium to be the "Best Live Band In Britain"?
"Obviously we were dead happy they were saying nice things about us. We were a bit surprised, really. But when papers say things like that, you can never really trust them. You have to stop it going to your head. If you stay true to yourself then you can't go wrong and there's no pressure on you.
"You see, we don't really take ourselves too seriously. We never plan anything. It's always natural. There's no pretension with us. We're not like one of these bands who'll go on and do the rock star thing. The whole point about our live shows is that we're on the same level as the crowd."
But the fact that Symposium have made it this far is due in large part to the sheer energy of their live shows. Are they wary of being pigeonholed as a goodtime live band?
"Oh yeah," admits Ross. "A lot of people might see us like that - 'crazy punk kids', et cetera, and therefore think that there isn't much substance to the songs. Well, that's totally untrue. That's the thing about the new album, I think a lot of people might be totally surprised." n
* Symposium's latest single, 'Average Man', is out now. They release On The Outside through Infectious Records in May.