A young rock band with Thanet roots have triumphed as regional finalists in the prestigious Live & Unsigned talent competition.

Purity beat seven other hopefuls in the contest at Brighton and will now go through to the finals, having originally been selected from an audition with 10,000 entries.

The band consists of Chatham House pupil Richard Spanton, 15, from Margate, on bass and vocals, Ursuline College student Jack McGowen, 17, also from Margate, guitar and vocals, and drummer Jordan Baker, 14, from Broomfield, Herne Bay, a pupil at Canterbury’s Archbishop's School.

They formed after meeting at a rock school in Thanet in 2006.

Their songs are all original and all three members are involved in the song writing.

Jordan described their sound as “bluesy sounding rock” , influenced by Wolfmother, Queens of the Stone Age, Led Zeppelin and AC/DC.

Purity recently won the Wow Factor at Canterbury Christ Church University and are lined up to appear in the Quex Park music festival.

The band will compete against acts from across the country when they perform at the Fairfield Halls, Croydon, on June 28.