They’re the Glasgow group who name-checked Rita Ora for their new song – but Catholic Action found themselves surprised when the songstress gave it her seal of approval.

The foursome are gearing up to play King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut on September 25 in support of their new double A-side single, pairing the guitar-pop of Rita Ora with the woozier, heavier tune Breakfast.

And after they got some Radio 1 airplay, Rita Ora Tweeted her love of the tune that bears her name.

“I know a friend of a friend who sent her it, and I’ve had confirmation she actually likes it, other than just the Tweet,” says singer and guitarist Chris McCrory.

“We were all at a party at the time and our drummer went ‘guys, look at this’ and showed us Twitter. It’s pretty funny – I don’t even really know any of her songs, I just know her off the TV, so it’s a bit mad.”

The song itself is one of the band’s poppier numbers, and Chris admits he wanted the song to have a cheerful mood to it.

“It’s clear there’s not a lot of thought that went into it, it’s just pure, daft glee,” admits Chris.

“It’s us carrying on in the rehearsal room and some nonsense words came out, and they just happened to be the name of someone quite famous. We always intended to change the words but nothing else worked and it’s a very immediate song. If you’re sitting in a studio and go ‘I need to write a hit’ then I think you can tell that it’s laboured, whereas this isn’t.”

If there’s any justice, then Catholic Action will have plenty of hits in their future. Formerly the drummer with Glasgow group Casual Sex, Chris switched back to his first love of guitar to bring to life a collection of songs he’d been working on.

Teaming up with Andrew MacPherson (guitar) Jamie Dubber (bass) and Ryan Clark (drums) Catholic Action were born, and they’ve shown an ability to marry the sort of classic indie-pop earworms Glasgow bands have long been known for with big, chunky glam rock riffs, as on early single L.U.V.

That song was inspired by a riotous party in Govan, and the city’s music scene has often inspired Chris, who also works as a producer for other bands.

“Compared to everywhere else in the UK, there’s not anywhere like Glasgow,” he explains.

“London has a lot of bands, so it’s very industry-centric, whereas Glasgow is separate from the industry and can throw up it’s own thing more often. It’s quite unique – London now has bands that sound like Glasgow five years ago.”

However the singer is keen to take Catholic Action as far afield as he can. While some bands can be guilty of sticking to their home area and not touring, Chris has always wanted to see where the band can go.

“It’s important for a band’s development musically to get far away and experience different things because everyone here does know each other and plays in bands with each other,” he says.

“One of the best things about being in a band is that you can travel and meet people. I said right away to our manager was that I wasn’t in this band to play Glasgow for the rest of my life – I want to get as far away from Glasgow when touring as I possibly can.

“I want to play in Japan if we could – that makes you a better band, and it makes you appreciate Glasgow more, too.”

Although Chris works as a producer, he’s passed over responsibilities for Catholic Action’s own debut album to Margo Broom, who’s previously worked with the likes of Fat White Family.

The record is due out next year (they’re already writing songs for a second album) and the singer wanted the group to step out of their comfort zone, although the move came with some added challenges.

“You can drive yourself mad quite easily when you’re producing,” he says.

“I’d recorded a version of the album myself, a lot of it before we’d even played a gig, but you need someone else to really decide if it’s finished. It’s nice to have another opinion when you’re second guessing yourself all the time.

“I was in tears at one point making the album, but that was a good thing. Making a record is a huge learning curve, and we’ve come out of it as a much better band.”

Catholic Action, King Tut’s, Sunday September 25, £8, 8.30pm