Sexier than the Spice Girls, smarter than the Spice Girls, sassier than the Spice Girls - that's the schtick on London Records' hotly-tipped new pop act All Saints, who release their debut single I Know Where It's At on August 18. But whatever you do, don't mention the Spice Girls. London Records' chairman Tracy Bennett says, "All Saints are going to be one of the biggest bands in the world." With those words, the potential war with the Spice Girls is elevated into a global, unit-shifting showdown. "My only worry is the 'new Spice Girls' tag," Bennett adds. "We know comparisons will be drawn, it's inevitable, but this is a very different band. They are real music fans, obsessives. I promise you they can give you the barcodes on their record collection." The group's hip credentials have been polished up by the involvement of Neneh Cherry and Massive Attack producer Cameron McVey in their debut album, due in November. "He was suggested to us by the record label," says 21-year-old singer Melanie Blatt. "We like Neneh Cherry, but she's not a particularly big influence on us."

The album also features two other producer credits, K Gee of the Steve Jervier stable, and Johnny Douglas, who has previously worked with George Michael. Apart from one short session in Washington, the album was recorded in two London studios, Matrix and Metropolis. For the moment, Blatt isn't giving too much away. "All I can say is, expect something fairly slow and groove-based," she says. "None of it is very fast, it's all very mid-tempo stuff."

All Saints started life as a duo four years ago when Blatt and Shaznay T Lewis, both 21, hooked up together and started recording in a studio in All Saints Road, Ladbroke Grove, London. They were briefly signed to ZTT Records, releasing a single, If You Wanna Party. However, Blatt says, "We didn't know what direction we wanted to go in and ZTT didn't really know what to do with us, so it was a pretty short lived thing. Our one release was deleted very quickly." In 1995, the pair, who are still the group's co-songwriters, invited Canadian sisters Nicky, 22, and Natalie Appleton, 24, to join them as singers.

Now, their four-piece harmonies hit the mark, marking them out as an act who could offer a fresh twist on both En Vogue and the Spice Girls. Bennett has previously signed Fine Young Cannibals and East 17 in his 20-year tenure at London, which includes the company's successes with all-girl group Bananarama. He instantly saw All Saints' potential, signing them to London last November. "A friend of mine, John Benson, who manages All Saints, has been a guy about town for years. He's always bringing me things and they've all been useless, Morris Dancers and things like that. You know how it is when a friend says, 'I've got something you might be interested in', so when John turned up again with this tape of the All Saints I was a bit reluctant to hear it. But when I did put it on, I realised he had brought me the best demo tape in the whole world. There were six songs on there and they were all hits. I hadn't gone out looking for the band, I'd sat back in my office and it had landed in my lap. By the time the tape had reached the first chorus in the song Never Forever, which is going to be a massive second single, I was getting everyone into my office to give it a listen. I couldn't believe my luck. I've dealt with a lot of bands but Shaznay is the best songwriter I've worked with."

The single was actually written four years ago by the original two-piece and features a short rap by Shaznay. "We bring a lot of influences into our music - rap, R&B, pop, soul," says Blatt. "We are real music fans. The Spice Girls are cool and it's amazing how they've burst out into this massive phenomena, but the day they call themselves artists, I'll kill myself. We're much better looking and we've got more upstairs."

"You wouldn't believe the IQs of these girls," says Bennett, keen to make a point. "They are sexy and attractive, but there's something freaky about them, such as Shaznay in her big brace." He also insists All Saints are being treated as an act with a long shelf-life. "This is a marriage, it's going to last, not just something to sleep or flirt with," says the hype-friendly Bennett. "They are not the new Spice Girls or the new Bananarama, they will be around for a long time."

Stolen Completly from Dotmusic