The Ordinary Boys say making their third and poppiest album yet has been way harder than creating a "critic-pleasing eccentric indie album".

"We've embraced our poppiness," guitarist William told MTV.co.uk. "It's hard 'cos when you're on a major label some friends say that you've sold out."

"But we always wanted to make this a pop record and to compensate we've written punk-rock lyrics," added Preston. "It would have been much easier to write something the alternative music press would have loved, something eccentric."

The fickleness of fame is a theme on the band's third album 'How To Get Everything You Want In Ten Easy Steps' but they say there's no comparison with The Streets' lamentation on celebrity, 'The Hardest Way To Make An Easy Living'.

"In a way this is an antidote to that," Preston said. "We're enjoying the fickleness of fame. I haven't laid the ghost of Big Brother to rest, that was all part of the puzzle and the thing that made us available to people."

And of course the Ordinary Boys frontman now has a celebrity wife who William assures us "lets him out all the time."

"Chantelle gets on really well with the band but she doesn't come on tour with us - it's really not as glamorous as it sounds," Preston said.

So what of the recent tabloid story about a group of Japanese tourists snapping the newlyweds as they enjoyed a shower together after a gig?

"I was in the shower so they might have got a picture of me," Preston explained, "but I don't know where Chantelle was so it wasn't as sexy as it sounded."

"And anyway once you've got a wife, no one cares if they see your willy!" William concluded.

Ah, the crazy world of celebrity...

The single Lonely At The Top is in stores on Monday.

'SLJ'