Mark, James, and Luke are improbably Biblical names for three members of a band called Addict.

But then Mark Aston, James Denham and Luke Bullen are all keen to emphasize that the name Addict shouldn't be construed to mean that the group is in any way self-destructive, or for that matter, consumed by the darker side of human existence.

"For all of the songs that lean that way, like 'Abused' or 'Black Hole', there's an equal number of songs that lean towards optimism," says lead singer Aston. "Writing songs for me is about exploring the human psyche, but what sets us apart from the grunge bands and the Marilyn Mansons is that they take it to such an extreme -- there's nothing positive in it, it's just pain for the sake of pain. Although some of our songs have a darker lyrical content, they've still got something that musically offsets that."

What the London-based Addict do share with the post-grunge pain mongers is a muscular, arena-rock sound that has little in common with recent exponents of Britpop. "We've always been into big rock records, like Led Zeppelin," says Danish-born guitarist Nikolaj Juel. "It's never really been a question of it being British or American. In the 60s and 70s, it was mainly British bands who were making big rock records. It just so happens that in the 90s the bands are mainly American.'

With the release of the thrilling first single "Monster Side", Addict are set to prove wrong the many pundits who declared that grunge-inspired hard rock was dead. "The album wasn't made for the American market specifically," says Aston, "but I think America is wide open for our kind of music.'

Influenced less by the Beatles and the Kinks than by Soundgarden and Screaming Trees, the Britrock quartet are already eliciting ecstatic responses to their powerful live shows. "We can carry it live," says drummer Luke Bullen, who completed the band's lineup in mid-1995. "As good as Stones is, the live experience is something else again. We feel very confident about that," Adds frontman Aston. "I love performing, it's what I've always wanted to do, and what I've worked really hard for. We're not into the pain and suffering of art, we love what we do. It's just a pleasure to make music and to get off on it.

Aston and bassist Denham have been working and writing songs together for over a decade, having met in the mid-80s, in their native Cambridge. "We started playing in bands ten years ago," says Denham. "They were all terrible bands with terrible names that we choose not to remember, playing horrendously bad 80s pop. After going through various configurations in Cambridge, Mark and I decided we needed to move to London."

Two years later, the duo made contact with Nikolaj Juel through a guitarists' agency. The son of a flautist with the Royal Danish Symphony Orchestra, Juel was a musical prodigy who started playing the guitar at the age of nine. "I can't say there are any specific guitarists who've influenced me," he says. "It's more the whole picture, particular records I've listened to over the years."

It wasn't until drummer Bullen joined that Addict's sound really fell into place. "With the old drummer," explains Juel, "we had some musical limitations as to what we could do, as well as management who tried to take us in a direction we didn't want to go in. With Luke we could do a little bit more than we'd been able to do. We sacked our old management and found our own sound."

The band's sound crystalized around two songs, "Dust" and "Underneath", both featured on Stones. Both are searing and passionate-cries from the band's heart. "Those songs were turning points in our career," says Aston. "Within about a year, everything was very together and fine-tuned. It still took a while for us to get signed though, because we were so out of step with the Britpop scene." Signing to Big Cat/V2 at the end of 1996. Addict recorded a limited-edition EP comprising "Save Me", "Lover" and "Prostitute" in early '97. "The idea was that it should be a bit rough and sum up how we were feeling at the time," says Bullen. "And then the album was supposed to take the band somewhere else."

That it does. Enlisting the services of producer David Bianco, who'd just finished Teenage Fanclub's Songs From Northern Britain. Addict flew to Los Angeles and holed up in North Hollywood's Royaltone Studios. "We were told that David didn't have a big ego," says Buffen. "That suited us perfectly, because we knew exactly what we wanted to hear and wanted the album to be a co-production.We didn't want someone to come in and take the album over. It worked out perfect--he was a top bloke and there was a great atmosphere in the studio."

The engineering expertise Bianco picked up from working with Rick Rubin on Red Hot Chili Peppers albums served Addict extremely well on Stones. Quite apart from "Monster Slide", a song about Aston's demonic alter ego, the album boasts standouts like the stop-start fist-pumper "All Change", the sombre and beautiful "Red Bird" and the slow, intense "Teenage Angel". "Teenagers need to feel that someone else understands or empathizes with what they're going through," says Aston. "what I really want to communicate is the sense that life isn't all dark and painful."

"Over the last eighteen months or so in England, rock is something that's become credible again," says Bullen. "It's not like people have turned away from the dance scene, but there's room for rock as well now."

"As for America," adds Aston, "we intend to spend a lot of time out there. Not to sound like we're ass-kissing, but we really do enjoy America. Try keeping us out!"