‘Microlip’(pictured above) - a four-piece town-based ensemble - wooed the judges by virtue of the quality of the demo they submitted and, having done so, they are hopeful of impressing once again when they take to the stage of The Empire on Belfast’s Botanic Avenue on Wednesday, November 19.

Ahead of that the locals have a home-town gig in The Oak, Woodhouse Street, next Friday night (November 14).

Given that several hundred bands submitted demo CDs, it says something for the Portadown foursome that they were one of only 10 chosen.

They have been together for just a year. In fact, their first public outing was on December 28, 2007 - less than 12 months ago.

“We’ve come a long way in that time,” said lead vocalist, Jamie McDonald. “And having made it to the final, obviously we’d like to win it - particularly as the prizes include time in a recording studi and £500 worth of DV8 vouchers as well as having your demo forwarded to a recording company.

“There are eight judges and they’re all high-profile in the music world here, so it wouldn’t do us any harm to impress them.”

The band’s CD featured their own work rather than cover versions of others’ music, and the fact that it was given the judges’ thumbs-up in the form of a place in the forthcoming finals is a telling endorsement.

“Yeah, it was our own stuff so we’re pleased that they liked it,” Jamie said.

Asked what their influences had been, he continued, “Hard to say. We like a variety of stuff by a number of different bands so there are a lot of influences in there.

“Our sound is a bit Razorlight-like, but there’s bits of AC/DC and The Libertines in there, too. It would be hard to put us into one genre or category; we like a lot of bands from a variety of backgrounds.

“At the end of the day we sound like Microlip.”

Jamie’s fellow-band members are James Wilson (guitar and vocals), John Mulholland (bass and vocals) and Mick Carville (drums).

The band’s work can be viewed by visiting www.bebo.com/microlip

The proceeds from ticket sales for the November 19 battle of the bands will be donated to a charity for brain-damaged children.