STARSAILOR are ready to sweep all before them at this year's Brit awards - that's the verdict of the Benny Byrne, father to the band's Warrington based drummer, Ben.

The meteoric rise of the indie five-piece shows no sign of abating in 2002 and Benny is backing them to walk off with the coveted Best British Newcomer award at the Brits next month.

The lads face stiff competition on February 20 from Atomic Kitten, Blue, Mis-Teeq, Elbow, Zero 7, Turin Breaks and the So Solid Crew but look set to walk off with the spoils after an incredible six months which has seen them become the new darlings of the indie press.

Ben and James Stelfox (bass) represent the

strong Warrington link, both hailing from Bruche, with the two stumbling across singer/songwriter, James Walsh, when attending music college in Wigan.

And it's not hard to see why the band has courted such media acclaim as their music encapsulates an aching resonance that invites favourable comparisons with Radiohead and Nirvana.

The Walsh-penned anthems are embodied by often uplifting melodies that hint at optimism and manage to avoid the stereotype of guitar music saturated with all too predictable angst.

The group are currently touring America in an attempt to crack the stubborn US market but last week received favourable acclaim for a breakthrough performance on the Letterman show.

Benny Byrne said: "EMI snapped them up straight away. It's always impressive to note that Fever was only a demo track, with only 34,000 copies released, but it still managed to make an

impression on the UK charts

"Ben started drumming from a very early age and it was clear even then that he was very musical.

The tutor said that he usually only taught youngsters over 11 years old, but when Ben had his introductory lesson it was clear he had great potential.

"He never likes being compared to other bands. The lads hate it when critics call them the new Coldplay or Travis, as they simply say, we're Starsailor.

"I guess it was worth all those days banging the house down during his youth when we used to have all the neighbours complaining!"