SEVERAL months into popstardom and Alex Turner has yet to lose the look of bewilderment and disbelief his face has worn in countless photographs since his band Arctic Monkeys became an overnight sensation.

It is a fair bet that look was born on the night at the Forum in the band's home city of Sheffield barely more than a year ago, when Turner found himself hearing lyrics he had not yet learned properly sung back at him by a delirious audience.

The reason for this, and for what has since become British pop's most heartwarming success story in years, had its roots in the Monkeys' decision to give away demos at their early gigs.

"I used to work in a bar at venues and it really annoyed me when bands would say 'we've got CDs for sale at the back, three pound each'," said Turner. "You'd think, 'Get lost, who do you think you are?'. "We had this one time where people were literally running up to the stage clamouring for these demos, a right frenzy, and we were thinking, 'great, this is cool'."

If that gesture embodies a good, old fashioned, DIY punk spirit, what happened in parallel - the forest fire-like spreading of the word among fans via the Internet - was a much more modern phenomenon that did not spawn, but has helped expand, a whole underground of free download-dominated indie creativity.

Behind the hype, Arctic Monkeys are four unassuming blokes on the verge of extraordinary success. Second single When The Sun Goes Down, the follow-up to the chart-topping I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor, is out now, with debut LP Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not, out on Monday. Pre-order sales are four times those of Coldplay's X&Y so it is destined for the number one slot.

The band has some of the appeal of Babyshambles but with better delivery and more off-kilter songs, blending a variety of influences without trying too hard and making for effective pop, though whether it's really that great remains to be seen.

"What's happened has been proper hysterical," grins Turner, the Yorkshire accent well to the fore in the songs, even more apparent in conversation.

"We'd be daft to act like we didn't realise how incredible the last year's been. But when it all started we were like, what's going off here?" The music is a patchwork quilt of influences reflecting the tastes of band members Turner (guitar/voice), Jamie Cook (guitar), Andy Nicholson (bass) and Matt Helders (drums). These include The Smiths, The Clash, The Jam, Oasis, System Of A Down, Queens Of The Stone Age, Roots Manuva, Braintax and other stuff on the UK hip-hop label Low-Life.

The band's lyrics about smalltown life (mainly pubs and girls) have earned equal attention and praise, however.

"Lyrics were a dark patch. Nobody wanted to admit they wrote them, so we kept trying other singers so they'd do it for us," said Turner.

"But I'd secretly been writing since school and I enjoyed it. I just never told anyone because I didn't want to have the proverbial took out of me."

Little chance of that, then or now. A forthcoming tour in support of the album should further cement their reputation as these shores' current pop darlings.