By Andrew Clarke

Published at 11:06, Thursday, 20 September 2012

A LOCAL band has reached the semi-finals of a prestigious music competition.

No Idea: From the left, Darren Green, Russell Herbert, Rob Logan and Sharan Stewart

No Idea are one of 25 bands to make it through to the penultimate round of Soundwave – said to be the biggest music competition in the North East.

The band is vocalist Sharan Stewart from Whitehaven, guitarist Russell Herbert from Egremont, bassist Darren Green from Workington, and drummer Rob Logan from Maryport.

The competition began with 300 bands, which has now been whittled down to the best 25 after rounds of heats in Newcastle.

The semi-final takes place on September 30, with the final 10 acts being put forward to compete for the top prize in front of thousands of music fans at Newcastle’s huge Metro Radio Arena.

“We’re looking forward to the next heat and hopefully the judges will see enough in us to put us through to the final,” said drummer Russell.

“Our singer, Sharan, saw the competition advertised and we thought we’d go for it.

“All the heats have taken place in The Head of Steam pub in Newcastle; the first knocked it down from 300 to 100; then down to 47 in the second, and now we’re down to the last 25.”

The band have been formed for around three years, although members had played in other bands on the local scene for a number of years before they all found each other.

Russell added: “We’ve been described as ‘pop punk with a twist’ and we’re happy with that.

“We have a mix of styles, hence the name No Idea, but I would say it leans towards a modern punk style and we do go a bit crazy on stage!”

Locally, No Idea have performed at Maryport Blues Festival, Workington’s Decades festival (supporting eighties icon Toyah) and they won a Battle of the Bands contest in 2010 to earn to right to support Underground Heroes and Sham 69 at CockRock.

“These festivals have been ideal to showcase us, but we want to be ready with a full set of material before we perform our own show.”

Their material that has impressed the judges – a team of industry professionals – so far in the Soundwave competition is certainly unique.

“We have our own mix of popular covers. For example, during the last heat we played our song called Billy Montana, which goes from Billy Idol’s White Wedding into Hannah Montana to Idol’s Rebel Yell to Guns ‘n’ Roses’ Paradise City and back to White Wedding.

“Hopefully when people see us, they come out saying: ‘I’ve never heard anything like that before!’”

Published by http://www.whitehavennews.co.uk