PLYMOUTH indie quartet The Van Daniels battled not only other bands, but also snow and ice, to get through the heats of Ambition Unsigned, a battle of the bands contest which took place at the famous Dublin Castle pub in London's trendy Camden.

Fearing they might not make it back to Plymouth, they left the contest, which is run by Bug Bear in conjunction with the Treehouse charity, as soon as they had played.

"Throughout the evening the snow was falling heavily and we were really worried about getting home, so we left straight after our slot," explains their bass player Jonny Wenlock.

"It was dicey getting up on to the Hammersmith flyover – loads of vehicles were abandoned at the side of the road – but somehow we fluked our way up, and fortunately by the time we got to Reading the roads were clear."

Having beaten the snow, they thought they might as well discover how they'd fared in the competition.

"About an hour and a half after leaving the venue, we phoned to find out, thinking we didn't stand a chance if we weren't even there at the end.

"To our amazement we found we'd won and would be going through to the semis!"

Bug Bear described them as 'a jaunty rock band, somewhere between the Thrills and the Beatles, with a big fat joie de vivre vibe,' while the judges, drawn from all facets of the music business, praised the quality of their songs and consistency of their performance.

"The crowd seemed to like us; they were dancing around throughout our set, which is great, given that they'd probably never even heard of us before. It was a Sunday night, so there was no chance of getting anyone up from Plymouth!"

Their next play-off will happen on April 20 at the legendary Hope and Anchor in Islington, when six bands complete for a place in the finals.

"The finals take place at the prestigious Koko in Camden in front of a huge crowd supporting a big headlining act – as yet unnamed," said Jonny.

"They're keeping that quiet for the moment, but we'd just love the opportunity to play Koko."

It's a very positive start to the year for the Plymouth indie scene leaders – also consisting of Chris on guitar and lead vocals, Ben on guitar and Matty on drums – who have been busy in the studio working on some new songs.

"We booked into Sawmills to record three tracks with Tom Joyce, the resident engineer, who did a brilliant job for us, but we're gigging at the moment to raise money to buy our own studio equipment so we can record our album ourselves."

The new material is decidedly more old-skool rock'n'roll, a kind of mix of Supergrass and The Who, still with an indie feel, but less so than before.

A more 'dirty' sound, with even more of a groove, it's one that has real crossover appeal and gives them the edge at festivals.

In fact, festivals have provided some of their career highs to date, notably last year's Surfstock, alongside The Gossip, plus the likes of Goldcoast Oceanfest, Run To The Sun, Volksfest and Maker.

The lads are already booked into Volksfest 2009 (more about this in next week's What's On) and will be playing the Lowender Festival in Cornwall and the Party in the Park at Galhampton in Somerset.

Meanwhile you can catch them at Jack Cham's in Ebrington Street tomorrow night where they'll be playing a stripped-down acoustic set to start with, followed by a full-on plugged-in show later. You can also see them at the Mount The Curb Night at the Hippo on April 11 and at the Junction on July 11.

Find out more and listen to their music at www.myspace.com/thevandaniels