When The Lovely Brothers began ten years ago in their hometown of Shoreham, their audience consisted largely of 12-year-olds.

“We used to make cassette albums and sell them to our little brothers,” remembers guitarist Brother Benjamin. “They would go into school and would come back every day with a new bunch of requests.”

Now, having been thrown out of the local village hall where they used to play an annual Christmas show, the band that was started by Ben and his brother Mr Pump has spent the past year playing bigger shows at Brighton’s Komedia.

“We got a new line-up with a new drummer, and things started sounding tighter,” says Ben. “It has been building up for a while I guess.”

With a new album on the cards, set to revisit their best work from the past decade, and plans for a possible Edinburgh Festival Fringe show next year, the future is looking bright for The Lovely Brothers.

And listening to some of the songs on their website from their recent Welcome To Shoreham and We Are Not Amused albums it’s clear to see their appeal could spread much further than just the South Coast.

Their sound combines music hall piano and Bonzo Dog-style musicianship with lyrics about kebabs, Arnold Schwarzenegger, cheap cider and the frustrations of small town life.

The songwriting is divided between Mr Pump and Ben.

“I write the words to the songs and force our singer Scolar to sing them,” says Ben. “He’s a computer programmer which is quite an amusing rock ’n’ roll profession.

“Back in the old days the songs were just lists of things I didn’t like – and some of them still are. Generally it is stuff that p***** me off and stuff I kind of like but know I shouldn’t, like Schwarzenegger.”

That song, On The Ideal Of Manhood, bemoans The Governator’s later period comedies and parodies and longs for a return to his time as a monosyllabic action hero.

It also hints at another of The Lovely Brothers’ obsessions – barbarians.

Ben admits to collecting old VHS copies of the 1980s barbarian subgenre – of which Conan is unarguably the king – and also to an on-off musical project to make a musical about the hairy musclemen.

“I like the idea of a bunch of nerdy guys promoting these really macho thugs,” he says.

But for now the band are putting together their Komedia show, and judging by previous performances anything could happen.

“I like it when you go to a gig and you feel involved. We like confronting an audience and making them aware they are there and participating,” Ben says.

“Mr Pump wears a resuscitation-style mask that has a tube coming out of it where he releases his excess fluids. We did a gig once where we knocked up some George’s Marvellous Medicine stuff that we put in a bag taped to his leg.

“Then we got ten yards of rubber tubing and got the audience to suck up his excess fluid – they were all up for it!”

  • 8pm, tickets £5. Call 0845 2938480.