IF being flamboyant gets you ahead then it s worth a go. And Hitchin band Flamboyant Bella are definitely way ahead of the field right now after recently scooping two competition wins. Vocalist, guitarist and keys player James (Jizz) McBreen said: The fi

IF being flamboyant gets you ahead then it's worth a go.

And Hitchin band Flamboyant Bella are definitely way ahead of the field right now after recently scooping two competition wins.

Vocalist, guitarist and keys player James (Jizz) McBreen said: "The first one was the Cambridge band competition where we won the audience vote, 'the band most likely to...', the best song and the 'beer cheer'. The judges vote was won by the Hot Bang.

"Winning the prizes we did was amazing. The final turned out to be a great night of music, and the fact that it was a competition was a bit bitter-sweet to be honest.

"The other competition we got involved in was an online 'battle' called Unsigned Heroes.

"Hundreds of bands entered and it was whittled down to a final 20 for people to vote for online.

"A final three were then chosen, one from the audience vote and two chosen by the judges, one from the north and one from the south.

"We were picked by the judges as the southern band!"

James added: "Getting this far is actually unreal. The three winners get to play at KOKO in Camden.

"The prospect of playing in such an amazing venue still hasn't sunk in, and the opportunities that it will give us are really exciting, playing at the Isle of Wight festival on the same stage as the Rolling Stones for one.

"I think we've done well in these competitions purely because we're different and we are giving people something they haven't seen or heard before.

"We aren't the most musically accomplished band, and we've only been together less than eight months, but when we perform I think the crowd can see that we enjoy what we're doing and have fun screaming our songs back at us."

And their favourite experience? "Winning the competitions and selling out both Hitchin football club and Shorty's Sports Bar, while still having queues of people trying to get in.

"Having a good crowd that wants to see you play just makes a gig. I like it when I can play every note wrong and nobody notices because they are enjoying themselves too much.

"Also, less of an experience, but a great achievement for us is being the 23rd unsigned band in the country on the MySpace listings and being in the top five unsigned pop and indie bands."

At the moment the band are talking to record companies around London about the future of the band.

They are planning gigs further afield and hope to do a tour over the summer to play to the wide group of fans they've gained through MySpace.

James said: "We have a few exciting gigs lined up, KOKO on April 26 is the biggest step for us.

"We have a few festivals to look forward to in the summer as well, Rhythms of the World, Strawberry Fair and the Triangle festival are all on the way."

The band are taking part in the next Rhythms Benefit Gig on Saturday 21 at Club 85.

Check out www.myspace.com/flamboy antbella and watch this space!