It's easy to pigeonhole BBMak as another boy band. After all, they're three young, cute British lads who seemingly came out of nowhere and are suddenly poised for monster stardom. But "boy band" doesn't quite suit these guys. First of all, they actually play their own instruments - and play them pretty well. They write their own songs. They produce. On top of all that, like most "real" bands, they actually have a cool story about getting their first big break. In other words, this band wasn't exactly born in a petri dish.

Critics might have a little trouble categorizing their music -- they've been compared with Savage Garden and The Corrs, while they like to think of themselves as a cross between the Goo Goo Dolls and 98 Degrees (huh?) -- but not having a readymade label for their sound is probably the best thing that could happen to them. Of course, snagging a spot on Britney Spears' upcoming tour probably won't hurt 'em, either.

In any case, Mark Barry, Christian Burns, and Ste (short for Stephen) McNally seem pretty comfortable in their own skins. They've got a hit record in Europe and Asia, a "Buzzworthy" video for "Back Here" on MTV, and with the recent release of their album "Sooner Or Later" in the States, they might just have another nation of teens at their feet. The MTV Radio Network's Heather Stas sounded them out on their plans for global domination.

MTV Radio Network: You have quite an interesting story about how you got signed. Could you share that?

Christian Burns: We met over four years ago where we were all in different bands in the northwest of England. We were all working, too. I was a car salesman. Mark was at college trying to be a fireman. Steve was a security guard. At the time, music was a hobby for us, but we decided to take it more seriously. We got together and started writing some songs, for about a year and a half, and we packed our jobs in. Sacrificed everything. We had no money, but we knew what we wanted to do.

We went down to London and started busking outside the record companies, because we didn't have a manager or anything. We got some interest and that sparked off an idea in our heads to put on our own show in Liverpool. By this time we'd got ourselves a lawyer, and five minutes before the show, the lawyer came into the dressing room and she said, "I don't want to scare you or anything, but every major label in the country is out in that room waiting to see you perform." We did five or six songs, and the next day we had offers of, like, six record contracts on the table.

Ste McNally: We were very happy.

MTV: You all have individual influences that you bring to the band. What are they?

Mark Barry: When I was growing up I was listening to the Jackson 5 and a lot of Stevie Wonder. Just a lot of R&B and soul.

Christian: My biggest influence was The Beatles and bands like The Eagles, Billy Joel, The Bee Gees. And Goo Goo Dolls, I really like them.

Ste: I'm just sort of a mix of both of them. I grew up listening to The Beatles and Billy Joel, Stevie Wonder, and lately I started listening to a lot of blues. Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix.

Mark: I think you can tell in our music as well that there's elements of soul and pop and rock.