When a band chooses a different single because radio programmers didn’t like their first choice, it’s clear who calls the shots in the music industry.

Even though Deaf Havana’s pick for a single from their third album scored a Hottest Record In The World from DJ Zane Lowe, Boston Square was not deemed right for the BBC Radio 1 playlist.

So the Norfolk-bred four-piece and their management went back to the drawing board and plumped for the more Radio 1-friendly Speeding Cars.

The band’s singer and songwriter, James Veck-Gilodi, says they feared they’d written an album the station didn’t understand.

“It was really interesting because Radio 1 has a perception of a band. We are all 23 years old but because Boston Square has influences of The Gaslight Anthem and Bruce Springsteen, Radio 1 suddenly thought we were 35 to 40-year-old guys and we had lost touch with the demographic.

“Obviously, we haven’t. We are still those guys. But it was really interesting to see how you have to position yourself when writing music.”

And, surely, who holds the power, given that the album hit the top ten?

“Zane loved that track but his say on the playlist is not as strong as Nick Grimshaw or Greg James. So now we’ve repositioned it. Also I have lost three stone since then, so it’s probably a lot do with the appearance as well – the shallow b******s – but it all adds up.”

Deaf Havana come from King’s Lynn in Norfolk, where the music scene comprises a few emo-looking kids who sing songs about disillusion and flip skateboards in town squares when they’re not practicing.

“We are all lads from the middle of nowhere in Norfolk. We’re still young; we’ve been doing this since we were 15. I think, musically, I’m always going to write what I want to write and do it that way.

“But I had breath of fresh air this year and started looking after myself more. I got in shape. In doing so, magazines and radio have taken to it more.

That is the game but it was not a conscious effort.”

After splitting with his girlfriend, he’s cut out the beer and bread and hit the salads. But he’s still got some rock ’n’ roll spirit.

“I haven’t set foot on a treadmill. It’s just a state of mind and being in a happy place for the first time in a while.”

Old Souls, out last year on the major label BMG Chrysalis, has been billed as the band maturing. Fittingly, they invited a string quartet and gospel choir to contribute.

In between UK tour dates the band are currently recording new material to be added to an Old Souls re-release due in the autumn.

“Before the last album, we had a complete transition. We had a really heavy vocalist before. Then we wrote our second album, Fools And Worthless Liars, and it was about where I was and how I felt.

“I was looking to my immediate peers in the scene – You Me At Six, for example. That is not where my taste lies, but it was who we felt we should fit in with.

“For this album I decided I wanted to write more about other people – people I know and love and their stories.”

Boston Square is a tribute to an old friend who committed suicide. Caro Padre deals with Veck-Gilodi’s fractured relationship with his father.

“We haven’t spoken since I was five. He apparently came to see us when we played with Bruce Springsteen in Hyde Park, which was a bit unnerving but it is what it is.

“That is probably my favourite song on the album. It was good to write about something so personal.”

  • Deaf Havana play Concorde 2, Madeira Drive, Brighton, on Thursday, April 17. Doors 7pm. SOLD OUT. Call 01273 673311 for returns