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With trepidation, Gigwise heads into the hostile territory of London’s Shoreditch, diving between grotty venues packed with Nathan Barley-types,  tonight’s mission is to track down The Duloks, a Star Wars inspired three piece Canadian-British electro combo whose unashamedly goofy songs are technicolour symphonies wrapped in stripy tube socks and hot pants. Their heroic devotion to geek chic allows them to commit any fashion faux pas since The Return of The Jedi. As singer Mira tells Gigwise, “We are the uncool.”

The three Duloks, Mar Dulok (drums), Mira Dulok (singing) and Mina Dulok (keyboards), have invited Gigwise to Duloks Towers. As the self-appointed queens of Comedy Electro Indie Rock, a situationist-inspired scene currently consisting of them and nobody else, the girls swerve between total confidence in their musical ability, to wondering if they will get signed.

The Duloks story began last February, when Mar, a Vancouver native living in London, wanted to form a new band after her previous act, The Ewoks, split. Mar, who was living with the original keyboardist Alice, needed to find a singer. “I posted a link on MySpace saying ‘wanted: female with balls’”, Mar explains. Mira quickly replied. “Our first band practice consisted mainly of Mira asking me lots of questions about boyfriends and sex. I think we played one song.”

“The main discussion that brought us together was foreskins,” adds Mira. “I wanted some tips on boys without foreskins; how to give the perfect hand job to my American boyfriend.” Mar, perched on the settee in The Duloks living room, explains: “I’m from North America where every boy is circumcised, like 90%. It’s a cultural thing, and she’s British…”

With anatomy class over, the founding Duloks members started gigging in the east end. With only two weeks to rehearse until their first show, the trio wrote five songs, including ‘Help I’m Turning Into Mick Jagger’, ‘Bad Vegetarian’ and ‘Frogger’. Their first gig, on Mar’s birthday, was a drunken affair in her living room that terrified the Bangladeshi neighbours. “My most memorable gig was the one I don’t remember,” Mira explains. Subsequent gigs have involved Mira dance in sequin underwear on top of parked cars, dressing up as The Rolling Stones, and heckling dour scenesters.

The Duloks’ say they can’t be pigeonholed because they’re out their on their own. “We’ve been rejected by every single scene so we’ve no risk of that happening,” Mira explains. Mar chips in: “We ended up in some magazine where they put us as their number one band for Comedy Electro Indie Rock. They asked who our contemporaries were, and we were like, er, no one it’s just us.”

Their only beef is with New Rave (WTF is that?! Ed.), “It’s a fashion not music” says Mar. But they accept they’ll never convert the sceptics. “Anyone who is cool cannot admit to liking us because we are just not cool,” Mira says. “When Lester Bangs says in Almost Famous ‘we are the uncool,’ that’s exactly what we are about. The minute you are cool is the minute you stop having fun right? You stop being yourself. When we stood up at our first gig and wore our outfits I thought we really were a band. Promoters saw the pictures taken at our show and booked us on the strength of it. I was like, you know we’re a joke band right? Haven’t you heard?”

Jokes aside, Alice couldn’t commit full time to The Duloks, so Mar and Mira set about finding a replacement. Mina, a multi instrumentalist from the east end, was approached at a Duloks’ gigs and the line up was cemented. Mina keeps her tiny frame curled up on the sofa for most of the interview, occasionally chipping in when she disagrees with Mira, the feline-like soundbite machine, and Mar, the sardonic voice of reason. “In Dulok years Mina is three,” says Mira. “We grew her from a crystal but we didn’t have enough fertiliser so that’s why she’s so small.”

The girls are currently working on new songs, which will be produced by Posies singer and REM’s touring keyboardist Ken Stringfellow. Stringfellow is the band’s spiritual mentor, and would like to put out a release with the band. The Duloks have also attracted the attentions of Radio One DJ Hew Stevens, who put them on his show in December after seeing them play.

Their first single, the wistful ‘Star Trail’, comes out at the end of March. Their finest song so far, it has a level of emotional honesty few bands manage so early in their career. About doomed love, it was written by Mira as she drove on the M4. As a glimpse of the band’s promise it’s formidable, but they shy away from seeing success as a formality.

“Are we going to get bigger, do you really think that?” quizzes Mira. “I don’t have anything else in my life, I don’t have relationships. I have Mar, I have Mina who I harass and I have The Duloks,” she says. “The dream would be to have a month to record a fucking great album, tour the world. But if we can do that without getting signed…” Mira’s voice tails off, seemingly lost for words.

Incessant gigging is the plan for 2007, including a slot at Bestival. Further releases are planned too. The Duloks say they are the ultimate unhip band right now. “Like Catchphrase, it’s say what you see really,” Mira explains. Intentional or otherwise, it’s the trio’s fear of rejection that drives their best material. “Star Trail basically says, I know it’s futile but I’m going to follow what I believe,” says Mira. “As the song says, I banish unbelievers.” Readers, you have been warned.