Hotly tipped new band Ava Love kept their energy levels up when making new music – because they jammed to cult action films.

The Edinburgh outfit play King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut next week as part of the venue’s Summer Nights series of shows.

The five-piece play bombastic, catchy pop, with cracking early singles Subterranean and Chophouse calling to mind the likes of early Simple Minds and INXS as inspirations.

But they have some unusual working methods.

“Whilst writing and recording, our producer Stephen Watkins was an absolute maniac,” explains singer and guitarist Rory Fairweather.

“He’d get us in at six in the morning and then play until midnight, and he always wanted us out of our comfort zones. He’d have us going into a room and then project films over us, like (Hong Kong action film) Righting Wrongs or the Transformers animated film from the 80s while we were playing or writing songs. That marriage of music and visuals all over the room really directed the tone of the album.

“Even if you couldn’t see what it was, everything moving around you affected the way we’d play. We’d watch clips, and if the song wasn’t vibrant enough to fit that imagery then we would know we weren’t finished yet.”

Rory and the rest of the band - guitarist Dan Muir, bassist Fergus Robson, drummer Jack Fotheringham and studio session player Joe Main on synths – have history on the Scottish scene, having all played in various groups since their teens, with four of them part of successful indie band Bwani Junction. Now they are rebooting everything and pursuing different interests with Ava Love.

“When we started Ava Love we wanted to do something fresh and new, and lose the reputation that we had before,” explains Rory.

“We’ve been in bands since we were 14, and we’ve been releasing things since we were about 17. You don’t have the experience to think through everything, and as you get older you start wishing you’d done things differently. We wanted something completely fresh.

“Your cyber footprint is always there on social media, so people can find out what you were like when you were 16 with just a couple of clicks. You’re almost typecast, to use an acting term, and if you want to change style then it almost takes a complete refresh like this.”

Wanting to try new ideas is what led the band to hole up in a studio for a few months, writing and recording tracks. They’re happy to embrace being called pop, but it took time to get the new sound sorted.

“Pop sort of became a dirty word for bands after the 1980s, but for us it’s never been something to avoid,” he adds.

“It’s whatever makes you dance, really. We recorded the album twice and the first time we were reigning ourselves in, thinking that we needed to chill things down and lessen some of the effects.

“Then we listened back to it and went ‘this is really dull’. So we scrapped it, started again and changed producer – we started working with Stephen, who had a real love of the 80s. That meant everything could be as radge as we wanted it to be!”

Today sees the launch of a video for new single Chophouse, while the group are keen to take part in Summer Nights.

“It’s the first time we’ve played Tut’s with this line-up, there’s some good bands on the bill and we’re really looking forward to doing it,” adds Rory.

“We’re an Edinburgh band, and I don’t want to support any divides between Edinburgh and Glasgow, but you can sometimes get a feeling that the scenes (in both cities) can be seen as quite separate.

“Something like Summer Nights is good because it is just about celebrating the overall Scottish scene and that is what it should be about.”

However there are differences between the Glasgow and Edinburgh scenes. In particular, the capital has struggled with venues closing down in recent years, something that Rory believes will hurt the local scene.

“I suppose with the noise ordinance law and venues like the Picture House and Electric Circus shutting down it leaves you with very small, fantastic venues like Sneaky Pete’s, and then the next step is somewhere like the Liquid Rooms, which is too big. We’re missing that mid level venue here, which means it’s harder to develop as an act.”

Ava Love, King Tut’s, Friday July 21, £8, 8.30pm.

JONATHAN GEDDES