A few months ago they were just three young lads messing about on an old drum kit in a cellar.

Now the youngsters - all aged under 15 - have formed a band, voted one of the top three in West Yorkshire, and have been approached about appearing on Blue Peter.

And the band, called Blac - Chris Charlesworth, 11, Liam Tipling, 11 and Ben Naylor, 14 - have a regular slot alongside established rock bands at Idle pub and live music venue The Coniston.

While they focus on a rock/punk sound, playing a range of covers from White Stripes to Billy Idol, the young band are a reminder of US teen rockers Hanson. So it seems fitting that these boys all go to Hanson school!

It all started last November when the boys, all from Idle, found a drum kit stored in the cellar of The Coniston, run by Chris's parents, Mark and Vicky.

"We have live bands on every week and the drummer from one of them, Ozzbest, stores his kit in the cellar," said Mark. "Chris just started drumming away and he was a complete natural. The drummer, Eddie, offered to teach him and after just an hour he said to us: 'This kid really knows what he's doing, you'd better get him a drum kit of his own.'"

Chris, Liam and Ben formed Blac, based on their initials, with Chris on drums, Ben playing bass guitar and Liam on lead guitar and vocals.

After just a couple of months they won local heats of West Yorkshire Battle of the Bands and came third in the final in Halifax. At the contest they were spotted by representatives from a record label and from the BBC.

"There was a lot of interest in them, the place was buzzing," said Liam's dad Neil. "The BBC representative asked for a demo, with a view to appearing on Blue Peter.

"I sat the lads down and said: 'If you're doing this for a bit of fun that's fine, but once I send this demo off things could get beyond that and you have to be prepared for whatever happens.' They were all up for it so we made a demo and put it on a DVD."

Now Blac are waiting to hear about their Blue Peter appearance, which they hope will get them noticed nationally.

In the meantime they have regular ten-minute slots at The Coniston alongside established rock bands.

"We only started the band at Christmas and it's just gone mad since then," said Chris. "Liam and Ben have been playing the guitar for a while and I started the drums in November and got a drum kit for Christmas. I love it, I play them every day.

"We usually play with a band called The Scream Machine and they've been giving us loads of advice and lending us equipment."