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AN unsigned North-East indie band have reached the semifinals of one of the biggest battle of the bands competitions in the country.

The Stonedrifters, from Billingham, on Teesside, will be performing at the regional finals of the Live and Unsigned Music competition, in Newcastle, next month.

Winners of the competition, which received more than 10,000 entries, will be given a £20,000 record contract and tour dates.

The Billingham five-piece, who cite their influences as Led Zepplin, The Doors and The Verve, are hoping to impress the judges and make it through to the next round.

Gary Ferguson, 23, the band's frontman and rhythm guitarist, said the group had been through two changes in line-up but was now musically better than ever.

"We have been together for about three years now and we are pretty tight. We are all friends. I think this is it in terms of line-up," he said.

"We are mainly influenced by Nineties music, probably because that is when we were brought up. We write about what is happening around us - normal, everyday things. I think it is wrong just to put stuff together that doesn't make sense," he said.

"I think we are the only band from Teesside which has made it through to this stage of the competition."

The band, who have played a number of gigs to raise money for charity, also have 13 dates coming up around the country, including two in London and gigs in Leeds and Sheffield.

Jamie Dawson, 20, who plays lead guitar in the band said: "This is the regional final. It is the semi-final for the whole competition, so we are down to the last 15 bands in our category."

The Stonedrifters will be performing for the next stage of the competition at the Journal Tyne Theatre, in Newcastle, on March 2.

For more information on the band, visit myspace.com/ stonedrifters

8:20am Tuesday 5th February 2008

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