What do you do when Tom Hanks walks into a room and starts playing cards with you?

Or when pop star Justin Bieber offers you advice on music and stardom?

“We just looked at each other and thought, what are we doing here?” laughs Charley Bagnall, lead guitarist of English band Rixton.

The 28-year-old from Rochford says: “We are just four lads from Essex, London and Manchester mixing with all these stars, but we are all pretty grounded. Our friends and family back home make sure of that.”

Rixton – lead singer and rhythm guitarist (and EastEnders actor Shane Richie’s son) Jake Roche, bass/keyboard player and backing vocalist Danny Wilkin, lead guitarist and backing vocalist Charley, and drummer Lewi Morgan – formed four years ago, but last year the band was launched into the big time, managed by Scooter Braun and signed with Polydor.

“It’s been a bit of a whirlwind and we haven’t had the chance to take it all in yet,” says Charley, a former student at King Edward School, in Rochford.

“We had done cover versions of various songs which Scooter had seen on YouTube. He somehow found our number and called us, saying he would be in London and would we meet up with him. Twenty-four hours later we were performing for him. It was mad. We knew who he was. He is one of the biggest managers in the world.”

As one of the biggest talent managers in the world, Scooter Braun also manages acts including Justin Bieber, the Wanted, Carly Rae Jepsen and Cody Simpson.

So it’s no wonder he is also chummy with the likes of Tom Hanks and Will Smith.

Charley continues: “When Scooter came to see us, we were all so nervous, but he was the nicest guy you could meet. After playing for him, he said he wanted to take us on straight away.

“It all happened so quickly. We got a record deal a few months after signing with Scooter and started working on our album straight away. It will be out at the end of the year.”

Rixton are already making waves in America, having played at festivals to crowds of 150,000, alongside their idols, including Maroon 5 and One Republic.

Earlier this year MTV named Rixton as the band to watch in 2014.

“It is unbelievable,” says Charley.

Their brand of “harmony-driven soulful pop-rock” will fill our airspace from this summer, when their first single, Me and My Broken Heart, is out. They had already developed a loyal following from gigging before Scooter Braun came on the scene. Their gig at Islington Academy in London last week was a sell-out.

But it is a world away from Rochford and working the holidays in his nan’s fish and chip shop on Southend seafront.

Charley laughs at the memory.

”I used to help out from the age of eight,” he remembers.

“All through the summer holidays when I was a teenager, while gigging in the evenings. I really enjoyed it all actually, and I have so many good memories of going down to Southend beach with my family, eating ice creams.

“Now I don’t even have five minutes to spare. I haven’t been home since Christmas and I do miss everyone.”

Charley first picked up a guitar as a child, when his uncle taught him how to play. He started writing songs when he was 14 and gigging aged 15.

He formed a band, Four Simple Rules, and after a few years was picked up by a talent scout, but it didn’t work out. He was in and out of bands for years before being introduced to the rest of Rixton.

Charley explains: “The boys are all from up north and I was in a band which wasn’t going in the direction I wanted when I heard they were looking for someone. It really was as simple as that – it’s crazy. We clicked straight away and so I moved up to Manchester and lived with Jake for 18 months.”

A year after Charley moved, the band performed publicly together for the first time, at a venue called Under the Bridge, in Chelsea, London, to 400 people.

“We were dressed up in gold and black outfits. We wanted to do something special – it was hilarious,” laughs Charley.

After four years together, Scooter saw the covers on YouTube and the rest, as they say, is history.

Charley says: “I don’t think we have got our heads around this all yet. We are doing well in America, which is amazing because America is so hard to break, and it has really taken off. We are touring for a month and our headline tour out there sold out in five minutes.

“We are coming back to the UK in July when we release our single and the album will be out at the end of the year.”

While this growing fame and adoration is great, Charley is sure of one thing.

“We want longevity,” he says. “We don’t want to be a flash in the pan, so hopefully the album will get a good reception.”