Used as the set for fictitious Irish band the Commitments' rehearsals, the old hall looks and feels a good deal more shiny than it did it 1991, the year Bell X1 began their musical journey. Paul Noonan, Dominic Phillips, Brian Crosby and Damien Rice met in school in Celbridge, Co Kildare, formed a band and, along with guitarist Dave Geraghty, did the usual rounds of weddings, pub nights and mates' 21st birthday parties.

Tonight over pool, talk is of their own Christmas party, where band and crew will celebrate the most successful year of their lives. Everyone will be there. Except Damien, of course.

There's no telling of the Bell X1 story without simultaneously telling Rice's. Paul, Bell X1's singer and frontman, has raked over that tale a million times in interviews, perhaps in an effort to make sense of it all. Rice, who has turned his back on talking to the public completely, never mind about his erstwhile band members and childhood friends, was the kingmaker of the group that used to be known as Juniper. He was the driving force behind the band that he would soon leave to pursue a successful solo career of his own. Juniper arrived on the music scene in 1999 with a major record deal, a couple of hit singles and not a lot else.

Unhappy with the direction of the band, Rice blamed the record company for his decision to leave. "They were asking for fast songs; songs that were going to be hits, " Rice told the Sunday Tribune in early 2002. Angry and defeated, he wrote Juniper's best . . . and last . . . song. "I remember spending three or four days with my guitar. . . I got really sad and down in myself. All of a sudden I said, 'I'm sad, I can't write.' Then 'Eskimo' fell out."

When presented with this song, says Rice, the record company broke a promise it had made to the band and rejected it. Rice quit, took a break from music and reappeared a couple of years later with his debut album O.

The closing track on the now two million-plus selling album was 'Eskimo'.

That the rest of the band had felt it coming for a long while didn't make it any easier; in the latter stages the only thing keeping them together was use of the same studio. "We held crisis talks in a pub, " said Noonan back in 2001, "and it was one of the most honest conversations we ever had." They rechristened themselves Bell X1 (after the first plane to break the sound barrier) and got to work on the album they had been hoping to make with Rice.

Even so, there remained a hint of betrayal;

a lingering sense that Rice had dumped them, or that he hadn't as much respect for them musically as they did for him. Formerly the drummer, Noonan became the beating, aching heart of the band. He would talk at length of how he missed Damien his friend and how he craved his approval musically. And while time may have healed many of the perceived wounds, Bell X1 have gradually, slowly found their own voice. Perhaps Rice wasn't the most single-minded of them all.

Today there appears to be much distance.

Over pool, I ask Noonan what he thinks of Rice's recently released follow-up to O, titled 9, and he tells me happily that he has it in his bag but hasn't listened to it yet. A few years ago Noonan would have been one of the first people in Ireland to get his hands on it.

As if losing Rice wasn't bad enough, the new Bell X1 then had to find a way to silence their many critics. Although hugely different in sound and background, Juniper remind me of Humanzi today. Major label money fuelled a sense of resentment and begrudgery towards the boys. They had released only two singles. There was no album. The musicbuying public saw it as spin over substance and Bell X1 have been chipping away at the perception ever since.

But it would take more than the lush, measured emotion of their debut album Neither Am I to win over the doubters. The album arrived at the turn of the millennium when there was a lot of twee music coming out in Ireland.

As the gangly, good-looking Noonan attempted to front the band, many critics simply mocked their pretty-boy haircuts. But the girls liked him and his sensitive, open lyrics.

Onstage, his Elvis leg wobble became more and more confident.

When the band played support to the late Elliot Smith in the Red Box in 2000 (one of their earliest as Bell X1) there was the suggestion this was a band that wasn't going to go away. 'Volcano', recorded separately by Rice and Bell X1, and a song called 'Man on Mir'. It was enough. Just.

The album went gold in Ireland and after touring they each went off on their own musical journeys. Paul went to play drums with Gemma Hayes (as he had originally done), while Brian did some work with Mundy. By the time they had released their second album, Music In Mouth, Rice was fast becoming a superstar and Ireland had enough money to fuel a burgeoning music scene. The Frames, Paddy Casey and Bell X1 could actually start making money from touring here. And Music In Mouth contained more than one 'Man on Mir' moment. 'Tongue', an old song co-written by Rice, was one of them.

Then came a huge break: The OC television series, an unprecedented hit last year, took 'Eve, The Apple Of My Eye' for one of its programmes, just as the band were getting ready to record the album's follow-up. It's as if this was the approval they needed.

In Britain, Bell X1 were consistently lumped into the Keane, Coldplay genre. They still lacked a clear identity and their live show was becoming over reliant on sections of cover versions. It was as if the band were unsure of themselves and had to fall back on standard classics to prove they had the pedigree. They also had hang-ups about being with a major record label. It wasn't cool in indie circles.

When Flock arrived late last year, its maturity surprised many. Perhaps this would be the one that would take the band places overseas.

Despite arguing to the contrary, Flockwas in many ways a make-or-break album for Bell X1.

It needed to do considerably better than its predecessor to keep the record label on board.

To date it has sold more than 40,000 copies in Ireland alone . . . a huge achievement given the population . . . and around twice as many as Music In Mouth.

On top of this, the band have toured the island at an unbelievable rate . . . and to bigger crowds each time. They first headlined the Olympia in December 2004, selling out the same venue twice merely months later, again in the autumn and then selling out the RDS in January this year. Their current nationwide tour sees them headlining Dublin's Point theatre on Friday.

Still a young band with only three albums under their belt, Bell X1 have begun to shed the baggage. Through hard work and perseverance they have gone from prima donna to underdog. You can tell a lot from how someone plays pool. In the Camden Palace, Noonan winces when I tell him I own my own cue. And then he proceeds to pot me off the table.

Bell X1 play Galway tomorrow, Killarney on Tuesday, Cork on Wednesday and Dublin's Point Theatre on Friday