Aside from a number of household names such as Cathy Dennis, Burt Bacharach and Dianne Warren, few songwriters ever become as famous as the songs themselves. You only have to see their names on a song to know it’s a sure-fire hit. So, for Self Service, an up and coming band originally from Bristol, it’s a dream come true to be working with the UK’s foremost songwriter and producer, Guy Chambers.

Self Service have been writing with Guy since moving to London four months ago, and recently signed a deal with his record label Sleeper Music.

ATM caught up with ex-ATM student Mark Cooper, the band’s guitarist, to find out more.

“Working with Guy is amazing, and we really look forward to going into the studio with him. We’ll take in songs that we’re working on, maybe we’re a little stuck on a section, and he’ll really help us with it, listening to our ideas and developing them. We might go in with a song we’re not really keen on and by the end of the day we absolutely love it. He’s so experienced and got a great ear for melody.”

Self Service are 18 year olds Ben Hawthorne, Florence Arnold and Sofie White, along with Mark, who has just turned 19.

“I guess our sound is indie pop,” he says. “Collectively, we all have slightly different tastes, I used to like more punky music, while the girls were quite pop orientated, and Ben is into indie bands like the Fratellies, however we are not a manufactured band. We’ve been friends together from back home in Bristol for years. Guy helps us write our own songs, rather than us performing his.””

Back in London the band are all working full time jobs while juggling a hectic rehearsal and recording schedule.

“It can be quite tiring, but it’s well worth the effort. It’s exciting as we’re in the studio with Guy tomorrow, and he’s got Kylie in there today, that’s pretty cool!”

“I really enjoyed my time at Access. I was only there for a year before we started working with Guy … I know it’s a great reason not to go into the 2nd year but I was sad to have to leave! The tutors at ATM were really cool and it helped me a lot. Now when I go into the studio I can really hear the improvement in my playing and I think that if I hadn’t spent that year at ATM I wouldn’t be able to do all this now.”

www.myspace.com/selfservicemusic