Periodically, London is convulsed by the kind of microfad that is incredibly exciting for the people inside it and the subject of much hilarity and incomprehension (and maybe a little jealousy) from the people locked outside. Such is the current craze called new rave, all but invented by three sharp 20-somethings from Stratford-upon-Avon. Named after the kind of air horn that used to be blasted at raves, Klaxons has almost single-handedly revived fluoro T-shirts, glow sticks, sweaty warehouse parties, and the playing of ’90s rave records in indie discos—all of which new rave hallmarks have swept through the more hipster parts of the capital over the past six months. Klaxons—whose music is a giddy mix of clattering punk funk and euphoric trance-y keyboards—has even covered two classic British dance anthems: Kicks Like a Mule’s “The Bouncer” (refrain: “Your name’s not down, you’re not coming in”) and Grace’s rousing “Not Over Yet.” Having spent the past year building up an ever more hysterical live following, and getting right up the noses of the rock traditionalists in the process (Noel Gallagher of Oasis described it as the worst band he’d ever seen), Klaxons is now setting out to prove that there’s more to it than the kitsch rave accoutrements. It’s working, too. On the Sunday afternoon these pictures were taken, the band—Simon Taylor, 24 (keyboards); Jamie Reynolds, 26 (vocals); and James Righton, 23 (keyboards)—discovered that its third single, the trippy and addictive “Golden Skans,” had reached the British Top 20. New rave be damned: Klaxons’ next self-proclaimed mission is to subvert normality itself. “We’ve got an unashamed desire to be a pop band while being as out there as possible,” says Reynolds. Taylor posits Klaxons as the antidote to a played-out post-punk revival: “We want to be ambitious, celebratory, and euphoric.” In 1978, X-Ray Spex sang about the day the world turned Day-Glo. Thanks to Klaxons, it’s happening again

V magazine