PETE Lovett and Sarah Louise Avis, better known on the local pub and club circuit as Eclypse, are aiming to prove that you don't have to be in your first flush of youth or be part of the latest pop craze to make an impact on the national charts.

The duo, who specialise in performing classy classic bluesy rock and have a sizeable following all over Devon and Cornwall, will soon be releasing a single which they hope will sell enough on download alone to get into the top 40.

"We just want to be the first Plymouth duo to get a single in the charts," says Pete whose own guitar wizardry borrows inspiration from David Gilmour, Paul Kossoff, Eric Clapton and Peter Green, what he calls the "second generation of guitarists".

A few months ago the idea might have seemed like something of a pipe dream, but recent events focussed Pete on his own music for the first time.

The duo was born when the pair were introduced at a Tamerton Foliot pub, as Pete's former vocalist was leaving. Amazingly, Sarah, whose very distinctive and incredibly powerful voice has the ring of Bonnie Tyler and Stevie Nicks about it, had only ever sung around the house before.

"Music has always been the biggest passion of my life, as it has for Sarah," he says, "and we concentrated on playing classic covers – Floyd, Zeppelin, plus some dancey stuff by the likes of Anastacia and Scissor Sisters. People seem to really like the mix."

After being made redundant from a series of jobs through no fault of his own, last year Pete found himself at a crossroads in his life.

"I'd always written my own songs, but never done anything with them. My wife encouraged me to take a break to record some of them."

The problem was that as a duo they were a couple of band members short.

"Fortunately at one of our favourite venues, the Tintagel Arms, the landlord, Chris Oakes is a good drummer and one of his regulars, Cliff Davis is an excellent bass player. So we hooked up and after a few jams were able to record as a band."

Having rehearsed the songs until they were ready to go, they were able to record as live, with a couple of overdubs, at a school studio in Camelford over the summer holidays last year.

"When we performed the tracks live, we got such amazing feedback, and Sarah said, 'you know, this is something we can really believe in…' and this seemed like the perfect title of the album."

With ten tracks recorded and ready to go, Something To Believe In was unleashed at the Tintagel Arms with a launch party back in February after which they started sending it around a few places to garner some feedback and see if they could tap into a wider market.

"Ditto Music, who do internet distribution, got back to us and said 'we love this' and promptly introduced us to Pacific Grove Records, a small indie label who told us that although they couldn't help with a financial advance, they could help with distribution."

Because of their reputation, they are able to place the album not only with iTunes and Amazon but with Tesco, a market for which their brand of adult orientated blues rock is ideally suited.

"It's no coincidence that Radio 2 has the biggest listening audience in the world," says Pete.

"Millions of my generation were brought up on this sort of music and we have proved by packing out venues that there is still a market for it."

Ditto have an ability to set up a pre-released scheme whereby people can pre-order the single for just 79p.

The feelgood factor single, I Don't Mind, with its great hook, both lyrical and musical, will be available on April 26 and all those accumulated sales will count as one week.

Only 4,000 units need to be sold to get a single in the top 40 and Sarah and Pete feel that with their loyal fanbase behind them, it's a target not beyond reach.

You can check out the duo at two different venues this weekend as they'll be playing the Plymstock Inn on Friday and the Brook Inn on Saturday and you can hear their tunes at www.myspace.com/eclypseduo

The album is available at gigs for £5 and will also be available online from April 26 priced £7.99.