Photo: Press

"We played in the Berghain about a year ago," says Clean Bandit's Grace Chatto backstage at a gig in Berlin, recalling their last visit to the German capital at the world-renowned no-holds-barred venue. "That was an amazing evening. Yeah, there were kind of sex rings everywhere and dungeons. It was quite an experience."

That was just the tip of the iceberg, kicking off a year packed with 'interesting experiences'. Since then, the band have risen from a classical-meets-dance blog curiosity, into a chart-topping powerhouse of pop - with their debut album No Eyes crashing into the Top Five as they gear up to play some of the biggest venues in the country. 

"We had to work really hard for quite a few years," says Grace, shrugging off any notion of 'overnight success'. "We started about six years ago and it's always been a dream that we could make a living out of doing it. We never expected to be so high in the pop charts as 'Rather Be' was. For it to go No.1 in like 12 countries is just insane."

But their star has risen quicker than most. Grace, a musician trained in classical music, formed the band with Jack Patterson purely as an experiment - and not as contrived as some critics might suggest.

"A lot of people seem to think we have an agenda regarding mixing classical music with dance music," sighs Grace, "but really it was because Jack and I were very close personally and the reason we started playing together was more because we wanted to do some kind of project together. I had this string quartet and Jack was very involved in it.

"This is what came out of it, it didn't start as a manifesto of bringing dance music to the classical world or vice-versa."

But it's that meeting of worlds that makes Clean Bandit stand out above all other newcomers - and it's going down well in both camps. 

"Most of the classical musicians that we've come across have been very supportive and really interested in the music that we've been making," she smiles. "We've been invited to do some quite exciting orchestral collaborations and chamber music festivals."

It must be strange, finding yourself atop the pop charts and playing Glastonbury and German sex clubs after coming from the disciplined world of concert halls and studying sheet music - but this is the world that Grace has been searching for from a young age - since she was underage, in fact. 

"I guess when I was in school I thought I would be doing more classical music abut when I met Jack, from the first club nights we played this was what I wanted to do seriously from that moment," she admits. "Neil and I have always been into pop music and dance music.

"I've been going to Fabric in London since I was 14, sneaking in. I had a good fake ID."

But now Clean Bandit are legal - and coming to a massive venue near you. Brixton Academy is always that first major step on the ladder to festival headline status and arenas. Fortunately, Clean Bandit are well aware of the demand to put on one hell of a show. 

"Currently we have two vocalists because we feature different vocalists on every song on the album," she says, musing over their acclaimed live shows. "When we perform live we have two vocalists called Elizabeth and Florence who between them are able to sing all of the songs on the album. They're amazing and I think that over the festivals and into the Autumn we are going to be bringing out various different vocalists here and there, but we'll keep it as a surprise but for the core of the show we'll keep it to Elizabeth and Florence because that unity is working well."

It's all going very well, very well indeed. Clean Bandit: Out of the sex dungeon and straight to top.

Clean Bandit's debut album No Eyes is out now. As well as performing at Glastonbury, Oceanfest, Capital FM's Summertime Ball, Wireless, T In The Park, Latitude, Wakestock, Kendal Calling and Bestival, their full UK tour dates are below. For more information visit Gigwise tickets. 

Sun October 12 2014 - NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE O2 Academy Newcastle
Wed October 15 2014 - LEEDS O2 Academy Leeds
Thu October 16 2014 - LIVERPOOL O2 Academy Liverpool
Fri October 17 2014 - MANCHESTER O2 Academy Manchester
Sat October 18 2014 - SHEFFIELD O2 Academy Sheffield
Mon October 20 2014 - NORWICH UEA
Tue October 21 2014 - NOTTINGHAM Rock City
Wed October 22 2014 - BIRMINGHAM O2 Academy Birmingham
Sat October 25 2014 - CARDIFF Great Hall
Sun October 26 2014 - EXETER Great Hall
Tue October 28 2014 - BEXHILL De La Warr Pavilion
Wed October 29 2014 - LONDON O2 Academy Brixton
Sat November 01 2014 - BELFAST Ulster Hall