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THEY'RE one of the UK’s most exciting breaking acts, an incredibly creative band with an all-encompassing vision taking in not only their music but their videos, merchandise and even photo shoots.

So it would be perfectly understandable if the brilliant Vukovi were furious the stunningly clever promo flick for their superb Schwagger has, er, inspired the latest video from one of the UK’s biggest pop crossover outfits.

Fiery singer Janine Shilstone, though, insists they’re taking it as a massive compliment that The 1975 have essentially copied them in the eerily familiar vid for their new single Heart Out, with kids playing the band on stage.

Laughing, she told us: “I have no idea why people say that. After all their bass player is on the left, ours is on the right so it’s nothing like Schwagger, it’s completely different. They’re not even wearing the same clothes.

“Honestly, though, I felt a bit sick when I first saw it but I am actually quite flattered now. We must be doing something right if a band at that level want to copy our videos.

“I am gobsmacked. Don’t get me wrong, at first I was shocked. All the budget they have, all the amazing creative people they have and they use a video someone did before – have a bit of originality!

“But really, it is flattering. It’s not something I am losing any sleep over. It would be nice at some point to raise it again if we had more exposure. We’d never be OTT about it. It would be nice to meet them at a festival and I’d definitely say something then.

“There’s no point in being a d*** about it. They have about a million followers on Facebook so it doesn’t compare.

“The annoying thing is a lot of our fans have commented on YouTube and Facebook and they just totally dingy it. I suppose it’s understandable as they’re not going to want to draw attention to it.

“But we’re fine. Like I said, it’s flattering.”

While of course the music is the key to it all – and make no mistake, the music produced by this band is sensational – their fresh, exciting videos have played a massive role in gaining attention for them since the start.

Janine, guitar virtuoso Hamish Reilly, bass player Jason Trotter and drummer Colin Irving are a band who know exactly what they want.

Right now they want success – and we have no doubt they’ll get it.

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Janine said: “We are definitely controlling. It makes it hard to be patient.

“We put in so much effort and time and we are so precious with things, you can’t mess things up for us.

“That’s why we are so picky about everything. We feel more in control now. We made some bad decisions in the early days as we were quite naive. Everyone goes through that, though.

“The videos are something we are definitely known for and they have helped us grab attention.

“We just come up with these random ideas. We don’t know if they will work so we just try them and see.

“We worked with LifeUp productions for the first three and are good friends with them, they have a good eye.

“We come up with the idea, ask if it’s possible and then they figure out how to do it.

“Myself and Hamish especially, we are quite eccentric, we are always thinking outside the box.

“We have similar tastes in things, if I come up with a really stupid idea, the one person I know will get it is Hamish.

“I’ll phone him, tell him, he’ll say let’s do it. He’s the same, really creative. Basically we are a couple of weirdos.

“That’s where all the ideas come from, just us and Jason and Colin throwing things about, battering ideas off each other, it just works. We all have a good understanding of each other.”

The band appear to be on the verge of breaking through into the mainstream, and not just in their native Scotland.

With a single release at the end of the month, the long-awaited album to follow next year and a pretty much endless touring schedule for 2015, there’s a lot of pressure ahead.

But Janine is confident they are a tight enough unit to take it in their stride, after going through plenty of tough times en route to this healthier, happier point.

“We are like siblings. I have two brothers and if I have an argument with them I am talking to them five minutes later – it’s the same with the band. You argue then minutes later it’s all cool.

“I know we are strong enough to survive anything that comes.

“We have been through so much already so the fact we haven’t thrown in the towel shows a lot.

“It’s made us stronger. I know it sounds cheesy but it has brought us together rather than tearing us apart.

“There were definitely times, with the wrong people around us, when they maybe made us believe we were not good enough.

“Personally, I started to think ‘I’m a girl, what am I doing with my life, is it a big mistake, should I do what normal girls do?’. Now I couldn’t change it for anything.”

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The overwhelming positivity comes from an all-new team around the band, from manager Miles Goodwin to new label First Run Records. The imprint pursued the band and release new single, So Long Gone, on September 29.

Janine said: “This is the first time we have ever felt we have the right team around us.

“In the past we have had a lot of opportunities but haven’t had the right people working with us.

“The right team and the right timing are really important so we hope now we are on the right track – it’s about time.

“It’s pretty crazy how much we have done. It’s the happiest we have ever been.

“There were times when we hit a wall and didn’t know if we could do it any more.

“We didn’t seem to be getting anywhere and sort of blamed ourselves. We thought we clearly weren’t good enough.

“Then you get the right people working with you and they tell you not to think like that, it’s about the right exposure, the right time and dedication and hard work.

“We did the mini album and shared it with a select few people – including 7Nights – and they shared it with a few others.

“The First Run A&R heard it, liked it and contacted us right away, wanting to sign us.

“It took a while to get the deal right and we did. We’re chuffed.

“I would like the next single to be around March then take it from there.

“The album will, I think, be next September. We want to build it up properly, do what Royal Blood and Marmosets did, do a few singles and get real momentum, then the festivals and things before the release.

“The label are happy for us to do our thing, they couldn’t be any more understanding.

“Even going down to the choice of single, they were happy for us to do what we wanted. They were brilliant.

“And with the video, they told us to go for it and do whatever we liked. It’s been great.”

The original plan was to release an eight-track mini-album but the band have now scrapped that idea in favour of completing a full-length long-player.

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With the new label and their management firmly behind them, they’re heading back into the studio to record new songs.

And we should all be excited about that.

“We did the eight-track mini album but we have now decided we are not going to release it.

“We want to record a full album, it’s all planned.

“We will use some of the tracks off it of course, there are some we really like.

“I only want 10 tracks on the album so we sat down to try to pick what we wanted to keep and there were loads.

“It’s pretty hard to choose.

“It is murder trying to make decisions like that, we always chop and change our minds.

“We never massively disagree on songs and things though. We are our own worst enemies sometimes. It will be tough losing some songs.

“We want some of the older stuff on there too but not too much. Some of the old stuff didn’t get the exposure it should have. It’s the stuff people come to see us for.

“Again, it came from the right people working with us, the right label. It’s been advice from people who are close to us. We are also working with Yvonne McLellan who owns Native Publishing.

“She thought we shouldn’t do the mini- album and we have always trusted her opinion.

“Miles, our manager, has said from the start it should be a full album, none of this half-arsed stuff.

“The thing with a mini-album is it looks like that’s all we’ve got – but we have so much more.

“That’s our new plan. We want it recorded before Christmas as our agent wants to put us out on the road constantly after that.

“That is really exciting to think about as we are very much about playing live.

“We never seem to get excited about anything any more. It sounds negative but we have had so many exciting opportunities land on a plate for us then they have fallen through at the last minute, it makes you feel crap.

“So now we try not to expect anything until it actually happens. We say we’ll be excited when it comes, even though you want to get on Facebook and tell everyone.

“But I’d love to do T next year again , it would be amazing – on a bigger stage.”

The band today take part in The Big Music Project Live at Glasgow’s The Arches . Alongside Plan B, The View , Chase and Status and Hector Bizerk, the event is about showing kids how they can aim for careers in the music industry.

And unsurprisingly, that’s right up Vukovi’s street.

Janine told us: “We were approached by the organiser after she saw us on Rapal TV and jumped at the chance when she asked.

“I think young people are very impressionable and they should be exposed to as many creative passions as possible at that age so they can know their options.”

In guitarist Hamish, those young people will certainly be exposed to a unique talent.

He’s renowned as one of the most exciting players in the UK. His dynamic, cutting-edge style and utterly refreshing sound really help set the band apart.

Janine said: “Hamish is just such an eccentric guy, the stuff he comes up with on guitar is amazing.

“When we record with people they love him, they’re in awe of what he comes up with.

“A lot of other bands will take photos of his pedal boards and things or ask him how he gets a specific sound.

“He’s so nice he sits and explains it to them so I’m like, ‘Hamish shut up!’ He loves everyone. He is quite endearing on stage too.

“He doesn’t sing, he’s head down, in the moment, and people like to see that I think.”

So things are pretty rosy for Scotland’s most exciting rock band – except for one tiny thing.

They’re a rock outfit with a girl singer, so there’s one lazy comparison that has haunted them since day one.

Janie laughed: “The Paramore thing? That is constant, it still is. It really bothered me at first.

“It would be different if I listened to them all the time and was a massive fan. I have heard the album but I’m just not. It would be different if I loved them.

“They’re not an influence on us. It’s lazy because I’m a girl, it’s hard rock and I can hit high notes.

“So people go, ‘oh, she’s Hayley Williams’.

“I suppose it didn’t help that I had red hair too...”

So Long Gone is released on September 29 on First Run Records. Vukovi play The Apple Store, Glasgow on September 29 and on October 4 they play Tenement Trails at The ABC 2.