LADS about town Kid Jones are hoping to inject a twist of electro in to textbook indie rock, and are prepared to graft to get their success, writes MATT TROLLOPE. The Leytonstone foursome – David Hewson (lead vocals/ guitar), Mike Slader (bass guitar), Sa

LADS about town Kid Jones are hoping to inject a twist of electro in to textbook indie rock, and are prepared to graft to get their success, writes MATT TROLLOPE.

The Leytonstone foursome – David Hewson (lead vocals/ guitar), Mike Slader (bass guitar), Sam Jones (drums) and Chris Cookson (keyboards) – currently hold down a whole host of part-time jobs so they can “fund the cause”, using the dining room at Mike and David’s house as the band’s “office”.

Spokesman Mike works front of house at a theatre, David is a lifeguard, Chris writes music blogs for a PR company and Sam “does lots of odd jobs”.

Mike explained: “We all met at drama school in Sidcup in 2006 but didn’t really get it together as a band until 2007. Then when we did get something going we decided to move to east London because it has great access to Shoreditch and central London where gigs are concerned.”

So the boys relocated from their various homes in and around the suburbs, and got their heads down.

Their big break came last year when they won the UK Breakout Festival competition, which earned them a live performance at the festival in the Maldives in December, alongside winners from different countries from all over the world.

Mike continued: “We played to crowds of 8,000 people, and our hotel was a luxury boat, and so our taxis to and from the festival were speed boats, and that was really cool. We could certainly get used to that kind of lifestyle.”

But before they can afford a Sunseeker each and are holidaying with Jay Z and Beyonce in St Barts, there’s the small matter of their other prize, which is impressive enough – namely a residency at the O2 Academy 2 in Islington, and dates at the corresponding O2 Academy venues in Liverpool and Glasgow.

The band’s new single Juliet is released on iTunes on Monday, and the band play at a special single launch party at the O2 Academy 2 in Islington on March 19.

Other gigs coming up include The Roadhouse in Manchester in March 4, the Enterprise in Camden on March 27 and the world-famous Cavern Club in Liverpool on April 2.

As I chatted to Mike, the band were on their way to a Friday night charity gig in Brighton, were playing the Flowerpot in Camden on the Saturday and had a run out for the 2010 leg of the coveted Live & Unsigned contest lined up for the Sunday.

Mike added: “We’re busy and gigging loads so getting out there and gaining as much experience as possible, but we’re still unsigned, and still putting out as many feelers as we can to record labels.

“The Live & Unsigned audition is the next big thing for us, because the winners get to play at the actual O2 Arena, and get a record deal. “We only get two minutes to impress the judges so we’re doing a segment of Juliet and hoping that’s enough.”

New single Juliet Click Play