It's an introduction guaranteed to send chills up the spines of dedicated fans and quicken the heart of the reality TV-fixated newcomers gawping from beyond the moshpit. "Hello, I'm Preston from Big Brother," says the guitarist and singer of the Ordinary Boys, smarting with embarrassment and smiling with schoolboy mischief. From extolling the virtues of tabloid fame - it is "proper mental", apparently - to spouting off about the subversive nature of appearing on the cover of Hello! magazine, Preston has become the new Pete Doherty - with more acceptable weaknesses and suburban tastes.
Yet just two months ago, the Ordinary Boys and their Jam-indebted, ska-influenced indie looked destined to be a faded footnote in pop. Following last year's dismal second album, Brassbound, the band lost their record deal. Were it not for Celebrity Big Brother, the band would still be back home in Worthing, wondering where it all went wrong. And Preston isn't about to let anyone forget it. "I might have been on telly with Michael Barrymore, we still can't afford fucking trumpets," he says, encouraging the crowd to make bah-bah-bah noises through the disenchanted melancholy of Seaside.
Trying to justify the loyalty of their fans, the so-called Ordinary Army, and maintain the interest of the intrigued, Preston looks like a man treading water. Though the sucker-punch pop of Week In, Week Out sends him staggering around the stage, a clutch of B-sides and the likes of a leaden Life Will Be the Death of Me scupper the excitement. Instead, necks crane towards the balcony in the hope of spotting Chantelle.
If she's here, she's hiding, but a cover of the Ronettes' Be My Baby puts Preston's tangled love life firmly centre stage. Though he croons smoothly and William Brown's lead guitar gives the old soul some fresh attitude, it's a contrived move. But that the singer is grappling with his new-found fame is clear. "I have to admit, I was worried," Preston says, sounding a little choked. "I thought we'd do this gig and nobody would be going fucking mental. But I fucking knew you knew what it was all about and why I done it." A celebratory Boys Will Be Boys appears to prove him right. Now he's got the future to worry about.
· At the Academy, Manchester (0870 1544040), on March 20, then touring
