Screams can be heard up and down the country as news that Blazin’ Squad have reformed reaches the bedroom doors of teenager girls. Now comprising of five of the original ten members, Kenzie, James, Lee, Marcel and Mus, and still only in their early 20s, the Walthamstow boy band are eager for another bash at chart domination and believe their new single Let’s Start Again, released on June 1, is just the ticket.

In fact, Let’s Start Again, a catchy song, accompanied by a slick video, has had more than 125,000 hits on YouTube already.

Following the single, a new as-yet-untitled album will be released in December, which is described by the group as “eclectic”.

Speaking as one entity, they continue in their distinct east London accents: “There are electro and house influences. The piano thing runs throughout the album, and there are ballads as well. We’re trying to make epic pop songs.”

It’s been five years since the band split, and this time round they have chosen a different path, stepping out independently from the big record companies, which seems to working well for the fivesome.

“We have less money (for production) but we’re more involved,” they say en masse. “We’re doing it all ourselves and making all the decisions.”

Changing people’s perceptions of them an early decision made by the group as they readily admit that the “the name carries baggage. Everyone hears Blazin’ Squad and thinks there are a million members of the band.”

Their new, mature sound has opened the door to a bigger fanbase, from boys to people who didn’t like the band’s previous incarnation.

The group met at Highams Park School in Walthamstow, where they “were known as the music boys, we hosted all the parties and stuff," says James. They signed their first record deal while still at school, and began living every teenage boys’ fantasy. “We would get picked up (from school) in a Mercedes with blacked out windows," adds James. They went on to have a succession of Top Ten hits including Crossroads and Flip Reserve, high selling albums and became household names.

They remain close, not only within the current line-up, but also with their former bandmates, saying “there’s no hard feelings between us”. Although Kenzie admits that “it’s easier as a five piece”.

He adds: “The five of us just all had our hearts in the new stuff. It’s all down to the music.” The friendship between the boys transcends their working relationship.

“We’re also really good mates and we would probably still be hanging out together even if we weren’t in the band.”

The original band split in 2005, and they have all pursued other projects including writing songs for other acts, both signed and unsigned. They got back into the studio recently and started “working on a bunch of tracks together, coming up with the new improved Blazin’ Squad sound, writing and producing and then we decided to put some of the tracks out there,” says James. Mus comments: “It feels better recording for ourselves again.”

Their music is now ”a lot more mature. It’s still urban pop but with new influences,” says Marcel.

Mature is the word that sums up the new Blazin’ Squad, the scruffy teen rappers have become stylish men, with a more grown-up sound to match. They are playing lots of gigs, where they are performing some of their old hits, but to their delight, the new music is getting the best reaction. And, after nine years in the business, they keenly reveal that the “music has really kept us all together”.