Avenue on road to pop success

IT'S a tad harsh to label them 'X Factor rejects' but, type in the name of the boyband Avenue to most search engines, and you'll find them described as such across the Web.

Rejects they are not. The group auditioned for the popular TV talent show and actually made it to judge Louis Walsh's final four, but they were ejected from the show for concealing they already had a management deal and were swiftly replaced by the boyband Eton Road.

"Well, obviously we got disqualified from the show and then we got signed up by the same manager again," explains band member Jonny Lloyd, who before joining Avenue danced for Girls Aloud, Geri Halliwell and Rachel Stevens, and was a body double for Duncan James.

"We recorded half an album's worth of tracks and it came to the point where we were going to shoot the first video and our manager decided it wasn't the best thing for him or us to do. We got dropped, basically."

After two years of knocks, the five-piece (Lloyd, Max George, Andy Brown, Scott Clarke and Ross Candy) are finally ready to release their debut single, Last Goodbye, on Monday.

Before then, they'll be showcasing their wares in the Capital tonight at City Nightclub, during a special Forth one gig for 13-16-year-olds only.

"(After being dropped] we had to pick ourselves up again," admits Candy, who has sung with Red Hot Chili Pepper drummer Chad Smith in the past. "Max's dad took us on board and he knocked down doors at the labels and got us signed again. Touch wood, because here we are and everything's going really well."

Eighteen months down the line, it seems the band have no regrets about what happened on The X Factor. "We can't regret it," insists Clarke, a Gryffindor in the first Harry Potter movie, who once received a standing ovation from Michael Jackson during a Jackson tribute show that he took part in.

"It's made us what we are and it got us massive exposure. The night that we got kicked out, apparently nine million viewers watched us," he adds.

"But it wasn't like we did it for the exposure," George quickly points out. "We genuinely believed we were in the competition like everyone else, but because we had a manager we got disqualified. But we're not bitter. At the end of the day rules are rules and we broke them."

And the boys still have fond memories of their X Factor experience. "I still remember when we got through (to the final 12] and all of our families came along to our 'big reveal'," recalls Lloyd. "Even though we got disqualified later on, that's still one of the very best days of my life because it was so emotional."

Now, with a new management team in place (home of Sugababes, Gabriella Cilmi, and Mutya Buena) Avenue have been recording their debut album with some of the most successful writers in the music industry today, including Anders SG from Alphabeat.

They have also joined forces with hit factory All Around The World, home of dance-based artists such as Cascada, Darren Styles and Scooter.

"Most of our songs are really upbeat but we're not claiming to be on a one-band mission to bring pop back to the charts," insists Lloyd. "There are already loads of great pop acts doing their thing, we're going to be adding to it and bringing something fresh."

Clarke agrees, "It's about having good tunes with meaning. And if a tune's good, everyone will like it," he says.

A boyband they may be, but Avenue insist theirs isn't a typical boyband sound. "A lot of people have said that when they saw the title of the single – Last Goodbye – they thought it was going to be a ballad," says Brown, who comes from Liverpool and was in a Beatles tribute band for four years.

"But it's actually quite dancey and quite glam-rocky," he adds.

"After a couple of plays it'll be stuck in your head and you'll be singing along," nods Clarke. "Even your nan could sing along to it."

In a pop world where the fairer sex are ruling the roost (Girls Aloud, Sugababes and so on), it's been some time since a new boyband was launched successfully. So what makes the Avenue boys think the record-buying public will buy into them?

"At the moment there's so much music coming out that's cool pop music," says Lloyd. "Bands like Alphabeat, The Saturdays and Ting Tings are making today's pop music and that's made a gap for us." Candy pitches in, "I think people do want it. We did a four-week school tour and the reaction was incredible – the girls were chasing our car, there was screaming, there was crowd-surfing."

And it's seems it's not just the girls who are digging the band. "The boys love it too," says George. "They thought we'd come out and be like a lot of boybands they've seen, just dancers who mime, but we were completely not that.

"They really liked our songs and a lot of the kids liked that we weren't doing choreographed moves," he adds.

With songs that are poppy in that they're catchy, but the kind of tracks you could dance to in clubs, you get the feeling Avenue could be about to bring back the good times for boybands.

After all, the likes of Smash Hits and Top of the Pops may have disappeared, but teenage girls who fall in love with boybands are still out there.

• Avenue, City Nightclub, Market Street, tonight, 5pm-9pm, £6 (tickets only available from Radio Forth's reception at Forth Street, for ages 13-16 years old only)

THEY'VE GOT THE X-FACTOR: Avenue may have been blown out of the TV talent show for breaking the rules, but it hasn't harmed their prospects. Below, Scot Ross Candy

LET'S BE AVENUE
Max George (19)
Played football for England Schoolboys.
Has six lizards.
Is a huge Man City fan.

Andy Brown (21)
Plays the guitar and songwrites.
Comes from Liverpool and was in a Beatles tribute band for four years.
Appeared on Stars In Their Eyes Kids when he was 13.

Ross Candy (20)
Is Scottish.
Plays guitar and piano and has sung with Red Hot Chili Pepper drummer Chad Smith.
Is an alumni of the Academy of Contemporary Music in Guildford.

Jonny Lloyd (24)
Has danced for Girls Aloud, Geri Halliwell and Rachel Stevens.
Used to be head chorister in a church choir.
Was a body double for Duncan James.

Scott Clarke (23)
Was a Gryffindor in the first Harry Potter movie.
Has a black belt in karate.
Received a standing ovation from Michael Jackson during a Jackson tribute show that he took part in.