BY MARK McKELVEY

Maybe you are about to read this and find out about a band called Colenso Parade ...

or maybe you already know more about them than a thousand words could ever convey.

Maybe you downloaded their songs from myspace months before music promoters, Radio 1 and magazine institutions NME, Hot Press and Alternative Ulster cared who they were.

Maybe you picked up one of the demos they handed out at early gigs, memorised every word and hollered them back at them during their next performance or maybe you were one of their fans that has taken up travelling to see them play as a full-time hobby.

Either way, once you see this young Omagh / Plumbridge indie rock band perform, you know you are in the presence of a truly special talent that is destined for success.

schoolmates

The Tyrone indie rock/punk quartet consists of guitarist/vocalist Fergal Lindsay, on lead guitar Mickey McCullagh, bass player Phily Taggart and on drums Paul Mellon. The four CBS schoolmates started the first incarnation of their group when aged only 16. Although none of them knew how to play instruments, they had a dream of forming a band, so simply allocated each other roles, bought some guitars and drums and started from there.

Admitting that they were "pretty awful" for a while, Phily says the self-taught quartet made a concerted effort a year and a half ago to stop doing covers and put more effort into writing more original music, changing their name from The Hotrocks to Colenso Parade in homage to the street of the same name in Belfast where some of these young students lived.

Since then the band have been signed up by Bruised Fruit Promotions, had their music played on Radio 1 and had a full page feature devoted to these loveable, scampish rogues in Ireland's biggest music magazine, Hot Press.

Illustrating Colenso Parade's monumental rise up the standings in the Northern Irish music scene, they have performed in some of Belfast's most coveted venues in recent months, such as the Spring and Airbrake and The Limelight, which have been the launchpads for many aspiring young bands in the past.

benefits

Watching the band ply their trade in local bars over the past couple of years it is clear they are now reaping the benefits from their dedicated attitude and effort that they have put into developing their own style of music.

Colenso Parade's zealous attitude both on and off stage, which is galvanised through their music, creates a close rapport with the receptive audience who are transfixed as they build up to a bolshy chorus and strong instrumental, especially with crowd favourites, The Impressionable Miss Reilly and I Don't Mind the Weather generating an electric atmosphere. As the boys say themselves, "it is on the stage they revel".

To listen to a sample of the band's growing catalogue of

original music visit

www.myspace.com/colensoparade