A CALLANDS singer, songwriter and guitarist has sailed through the auditions of a national music competition with his indie rock band.

Steve Coulthard, one of five-piece Deccade, wowed judges at Live and Unsigned 2010 after battling against hundreds of other hopefuls.

The band’s line-up comprises Steve, aged 28, on guitar and vocals, Chris Fallows, aged 28, lead singer Nikki Fallows, aged 21, joint lead vocalist Tom Starkie, aged 20, on bass, and Danny Fallows, aged 25, on drums and vocals.

Steve, a musician from an early age, was born in Woolston and moved to Wigan, aged seven.

He lost contact with school friend Chris some years later after finishing high school.

When he returned to the area Steve, who lives on Holyhead Close, found Chris on social networking site Facebook and saw that he and brother Danny and sister Nikki, a Duffy tribute singer, were all performers.

Danny knew Tom from work and Deccade was born in December 2008.

The band have now played throughout the north west and at the Manchester Academy.

Steve said: “The Academy was the biggest venue we’ve had the chance to play at and we got great feedback from people who’d never heard us before. We were nervous but excited about playing to new people but it was a great experience.

“We’ve also gained confidence through Live and Unsigned. Knowing it could help us move on and that the final is a stone’s throw away is great.”

For the next stage of Live and Unsigned the band will compete against the other artists from across the country in a series of live shows in a bid to be signed and to reach the competition’s festival and grand final at London’s 02 arena in July.

The next round for Deccade is the regional final, which takes place on March 7 at The Willows, in Salford, with national finals taking place in May.

Live and Unsigned, which has a £60,000 prize pool, is the biggest original music competition in the UK for unsigned bands and artists and has attracted more than 30, 000 entries in the past three years.

The winner of this year’s competition will be offered a recording and management contract with Future Music with an investment of up to £30,000 to release a single.

For more information or to buy tickets for March 7, priced £7.50, go to deccade.com or visit to Facebook and search for Deccade.