THEY'RE yet to play their first gig, but already Cumbrian band Flynt have had their music aired to millions of listeners across the world.

Far from being an unknown quantity though, the pop outfit are made up of four musicians each already established in their own right.

Frontwoman Emma Dockeray, vocalist and guitarist Brad Kavanagh, bassist Calvin Thornborrow and drummer Steven Norman have been playing together for around three years already, but since they announced their latest project at the turn of the year, the reaction has taken them by surprise.

Thanks to word of mouth and a helping hand from Cumbria's BBC Introducing programme, they made their Radio 1 bow this week, when presenter Huw Stephens played their track Julia on his immensely popular late night show.

Brad, who hails from Troutbeck, near Penrith, says: "We're just overwhelmed by the response from local people and our audience in general.

"We certainly had Radio 1 in our long-term goals, however we didn't expect it to come so soon. It is, though, a result of the support from staff at BBC Radio Cumbria's Introducing team, and we're just thrilled to be the band they chose.

"The radio play is an incredible step in the right direction, but it almost applies some pressure. It certainly has driven us to be more focused on what we want to achieve this year."

Brad and his West Cumbrian bandmates will be familiar faces to a lot of people already through their professional covers act The Fusion Dukes, and despite all of the band being in their early-to-mid twenties, there's a huge amount of experience behind them.

Without getting carried away by their early rise to fame, the four of them are aiming big with Flynt.

"We were always aware of each other via playing in other bands or seeing each other perform, and we had a mutual respect for each other," Brad continues.

"When the mention of teaming up and putting our similar tastes in music together, it seemed like a great idea.

"We all had a common goal to team up and do something we could be collectively proud of.

"It's early days yet but I think I speak for us all when I say it feels really good so far.

"In the short-term we're focusing on finishing off our releases for this year and booking as many gigs as we can.

"Building our live presence and listener audience is top priority now, first in our home county then the north west. We'll make the most of every opportunity we find."

It still remains to be seen how they fare in the live arena, but we won't have too long to wait, with some Carlisle dates and out-of-town shows in the pipeline.

A lot of work has gone into getting ready for their first public appearance, so you can expect a polished performance in keeping with the high standards set by the singles they've released so far.

Brad says: "We spent an entire three months working in the front room writing and playing through our songs. We could hear it in our heads but wanted to make sure we could put it together in the real world.

"We do everything in house, including running the site, recording and writing the tunes, and writing our subscriber emails, so to hear so many people enjoying the finished results is very rewarding.

"Even though social media and online video are great tools to market a band, build excitement, and build your audience, ultimately it's the live experience that we live for.

"Getting out there and playing your music to people is a thrill that just cannot be matched, for both audiences and bands."

Labelled as indie pop, theirs is a hard-to-pin-down sound, but it's clearly a winning formula, notable for its use of both male and female vocals.

Brad draws comparisons to the likes of Deacon Blue and Sting, which tells you just how wide-ranging the material is that they're working on.

A debut EP is still some months away, but their mailing list subscribers have been enjoying their new single for a few weeks already.

"The feedback for the songs has been great," adds Brad.

"With music and the way audiences listen changing all the time, we figured that rather than do a conventional album, we'd release a few singles leading up to an EP release in autumn, so people have been able to sign up to our mailing list online and receive secret links to listen to our music.

"We're incredibly grateful to the BBC Introducing team and to all those who have signed up to our mailing list and have been showing support on our Facebook.

"It's early days yet, but we have a long way to go and they've given us a great start."

You can hear brand-new single, Julia, via Spotify and Apple Music now.