LEEDS band The Red Pills are drawn to the unconventional.

"We sat down and said, 'Let's do some weird gigs that nobody else would do'," says singer Tom Hey.

"We did one in a rationalist tent outside Leeds University Student Union. It was rationalists versus atheists. We stayed for the debate afterwards as well."

The four-piece have been gigging widely around the North in the past year. They formed in September 2008 after Tom was contacted via a musicians' website by Freddie Ray of the punk-pop band The Plastic Circus. "Freddie wanted to become their new bassist and they were looking for a singer. We met in Leeds. We hit it off and went from there.

"Nick (Shakhlevich], the guitarist, had only been with the Plastic Circus for six months before I joined. With two new people, it justified getting a new name."

That new moniker comes from a scene in the film The Matrix in which Laurence Fishburne offers Keanu Reeves an Alice in Wonderland-like choice of blue and red narcotics.

"Essentially, taking the red pill is a metaphor for realising the hard truth, whereas the blue pill allows you to continue to live a more palatable lie," explains Tom.

To date The Red Pills have released one EP, Awakening, and a single, Bigger on the Inside. The latter is a homage to Doctor Who. (As the sleevenotes explain: "Tom is the stalwart fan of the group while Nick and Fred are recent converts. Jim (Goodall, the drummer] is not interested.")

"We played at a Doctor Who convention on November 7 in Manchester," says Tom. "We met Sylvester McCoy, who bought one of our CDs. The people who organised it were expecting quite a shy bunch of nerds – that's not what they got. After that they said, 'Any more events that we do we would like to have you back' because they liked us so much.

"They are on about making a video for us with Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred (who played the Doctor's companion Ace] in it. It should be interesting."

A new EP called Missiles is expected to follow on February 5, around which time the band hope to embark on the "Red Pills World Tour of Yorkshire".

There's also talk of an appearance in Svengali, a comedy about the world of rock 'n' roll, starring Alan McGee, which was a cult hit on YouTube and has now been bought by the BBC.

The band are playing a pre-Christmas show at Carpe Diem on December 5 before resuming work on their debut album.

"We've got lyrics and music for 12 or 13 songs," says Tom. "We're going to end up with 16 by the time we've finished. Essentially it's a concept album.

"It's about a rich City banker who gets a new job which puts him higher on the status list. Initially he thinks it's brilliant but the stress gets to him and changes him and he realises what life is all about. We're working on a story for it and everything."

It sounds a tad ambitious...

"I said to the lads, 'When you are starting out as a band you need to aim for critical acclaim. If the critics like you hopefully other people will too.'"

Admission to The Red Pills' gig at Carpe Diem is free. Doors open at 7.30pm.

www.myspace.com/ redpillsrock

www.facebook.com/ theredpills