TWO local acts have wowed the judges and sailed through the audition stage of Live and Unsigned, the biggest original music contest in the UK for unsigned bands.

Tavistock rock/pop band Kitty And The Lost Boys and singer/songwriter Nick Ward both independently beat off thousands of other entries in a bid to win some of the £60,000 prize money plus an appearance in front of hordes of spectators and a professional judging panel at the Live and Unsigned Final that will take place at the 02 in London.

Tavistock-based Kitty And The Lost Boys have already been making waves nationally and were recently featured as Radio 1 Switch's Houseband Of The Week, and from there were picked up by Tom Robinson for his 6Music show.

The band features the Austen family, 17-year-old lead vocalist and bass player Kitty, plus her brother, lead guitarist Jess, and father Blind Johnny on rhythm guitar, with additional member Sam on drums.

"Dad was always involved with music and played professionally years ago in bands Teacher's Pet and Thief, supporting big names like The Who and Free," explains Kitty.

"He never made it particularly big in his own right, but was very much part of the circuit."

Naturally Kitty and her brother grew up surrounded by music and have been jamming together for years.

They have already recorded two albums and a third is ongoing at DBS Studios in Plymouth.

"Blind Johnny has composed most of the material we do," she continues, "but much of it was written years ago, so I help him update it. And we also do my songs, one of which I wrote when I was 11.

"We have so many arguments in the studio and even on stage and rows can be really explosive, but somehow that gives an edge to the sound we make. Being a family keeps us contained – we know we can't leave!"

Their punchy commercial sound has already attracted the attention of Mike Chapman, producer of Blondie's Parallel Lines and Suzi Quatro.

"He particularly likes girl-fronted rock bands and found us on MySpace. He remixed one of our songs and is keen to work with us in the future."

The band are already familiar faces on the gig and festival circuit locally and there are two opportunities to see them this weekend, at The Tavy Inn, Tavistock, tonight and also at the B-Bar, Barbican Theatre on Sunday.

Meanwhile, 24-year-old Nick Ward is well-known on the Plymouth scene as an acoustic performer, who appears at the likes of The Junction, Fortescue, Bac Bar, Drake's Drum and Mount Pleasant.

Nick picked up his first guitar aged ten and has been playing ever since, with strong encouragement from his parents.

He is not one for covers, preferring to write his own material which he composes to suit his voice.

"I'm always looking for inspiration," says Nick, "in newspapers or on TV.

"Six months ago I was watching a debate in the House of Commons and it inspired me to write a song.

"It's called No 10 and it's about how everyone is saying the same thing – nothing is changing."

Music has been something of a lifeline for Nick who is the first to confess that he didn't always see eye to eye with his school teachers and left in Year Nine.

But he's had much more success since then, first completing a BTEC diploma in performing arts at the Goschen Centre – "It gives you so much confidence and should be built into the curriculum" – then a National Diploma in Modern Music and he's now doing a Sound Engineering Course at Deep Blue Sound.

Both Nick and Kitty And The Lost Boys are now looking forward to the regional final on March 27 at the Bacon Theatre in Cheltenham, where the contestants will be battling it out for a place in the grand final at the O2.

"We're taking up a coachload of support from Plymouth," says Nick. "It's going to be a fun road trip!"

Find out more by visiting www.myspace.com/n.ward and www.myspace.com/kittyandthelostboys