Are you a Thrills seeker?

After sweltering through a very unBritish start to the summer, things are about to get even hotter at the Cornerhouse in Middlesbrough on Tuesday thanks to the sun-kissed sounds of The Thrills.

The Irish quintet, whose latest single Big Sur settled into the Top 20 this week, left their home town of Dublin when they were only 18 in search of inspiration in San Diego.

That was three years ago and Conor, Daniel, Padraic, Kevin and Ben spent that summer chilling on the beach listening to the Beach Boys, Burt Bacharach, The Carpenters and Neil Young. When they arrived back home, bursting with rekindled enthusiasm, the songs flowed from them.

They found themselves searching for a record label last year with an album's worth of songs that oozed summer cool. After signing to Virgin, they headed back to the West Coast and tucked themselves away in a studio just off Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles.

Last time Sounds talked to The Thrills, Conor was fighting off a bout of flu as he put the finishing touches to the band's debut So Much For The City, which sees its long awaited release at the end of the month.

As their new tour got underway last weekend, Sounds caught up with guitarist Dan, who was enjoying some Oxford sunshine by a pool, to find out what life has been like since they were last in the North-east.

"After the NME Tour in Newcastle, One Horse Town went into the Top 20 and we did our own headlining tour," says Dan, whose voice was almost drowned out by the children playing around the pool.

"Then we finished off the album and went to Japan. We spent some time over in Europe as well. It's all been really good so far."

Not bad for a band who were still looking for a record deal this time last year.

They're looking forward to a busy summer, with the release of their debut album and a flurry of festival appearances, the first of which was the Isle of Wight Festival last weekend with Paul Weller and Iggy Pop.

They'll be playing at Glastonbury as soon as the tour finishes as well as Reading and Leeds, T In The Park and a big homecoming spot at Dublin's Witness festival as well.

All the while, the band will be working on new material for album number two.

"We want to build on what we've got and we don't want to sit back and relax just yet," says Dan. "There's four songs that are definitely going to be on it and two are already earmarked for singles. It's looking good already."

* Joining The Thrills for a sell-out show on Tuesday night are Zutons.