Distinctive sound in Unsigned final

DAGENHAM duo, Distinctive, have won through to the regional finals of the Live and Unsigned competition. Lewis Morlang, 25, and Jay Aldridge, 24, wowed the judges with their stripped down acoustic sound – just their voices and Jay s guitar, an instrument

DAGENHAM duo, Distinctive, have won through to the regional finals of the Live and Unsigned competition.

Lewis Morlang, 25, and Jay Aldridge, 24, wowed the judges with their stripped down acoustic sound - just their voices and Jay's guitar, an instrument he says he has been playing since he was three.

Lewis, a former Eastbury School pupil who now works as an industrial chemist, said: "It's difficult to describe our sound. We have a wide variety of influences. I particularly like Coldplay, Tracy Chapman, James Morrison..."

He and Jay have only been performing together for about a year. Lewis said: "We met through our girlfriends. One day he was carrying his guitar and I said I could sing. We messed about a bit and decided to give it a go."

Now they are serious about their music. Lewis says: "I don't want to mess about with it. I want to win this Live and Unsigned competition and make it big."

Distinctive auditioned against hundreds of hopefuls and will now compete at Live and Unsigned East Regional Finals, The Town Gate Theatre, Basildon, on April 13.

Lewis says: "There are judges, but they also take into account the votes of the audience - they are asked to write down their favourite band. So we're hoping lots of people from Barking and Dagenham will go along to Basildon to support us.