Two years later, Waller walked out on his band to go test his chances in London. Art school, boys in pointy shoes, and hats worn at jaunty angles awaited him. “It was thrilling for me at the start. But man,” he sighs, “there were some dark days to follow.” Post art school he began playing with East End scat cats Vincent Vincent & The Villains, joining the polished five-piece on vocals and guitar. Then, on a gloomy horizon appeared a band of brothers. “We had never begun The Rumble Strips,” Gorbutt explains, “which means we had never really broken up. When we ran into each other in London, something like three years after we had last played together, it just seemed really natural to pick up where we left off.”
Over the next few months, both groups slowly found their feet; Vincent Vincent tightening strings, finding a stance akin to the skewed stance of The Modern Lovers. The Rumble Strips on the other hand, got a bit down and dirty. “We had been playing what I thought of as white man’s blues,” Waller explains, “but as I looked around I realized so much more had gone on in music since then. It seemed arrogant to disregard it.” The band’s early efforts at good time rock ‘n’ roll began to show cracks out of which shined a glorious awkwardness, schizophrenia, and rage that suddenly jerked the band awake.
     A friendly rivalry broke out when Vincent Vincent signed to EMI and The Rumble Strips to Island, the bands released singles to collide with each other, they toured the country a day apart, documenting the whole whacky race in amicably opposing, action-packed pop. “A lot of people made out like we were at each other’s throats,” Waller laughs, “but sincerely, I think it made the whole thing a little more fun. If you have someone hot on your heels, it pushes both of us to find new ideas and approaches to our music.” Rock ‘n’ roll it might be, formulaic it’s not, and as The Rumble Strips finish recording their second record, their debut Girls and Weather is about to drop in the US, upping the ante once more.