by Stephen Waite

They might be four years away from being old enough to order a pint but they are already looking forward to their first session at the pub.

Sittingbourne-based band Skaciety are all 14 and have been practising hard for their drinking-hole debut in London at the weekend.

Singer and guitarist Aiden Lamb said: "It is frustrating being 14 and in a band as there are very few places to play live.

"We got this one because my dad knows the owner and he watched a video of us.

"Hopefully this gig will raise our profile and make local venues or festivals, such as ‘The Hop Farm Festival’ more accessible."

As their name suggests, the four-piece band, formed six months ago, play Ska music, which blends Jamaican calypso, a rock beat and tempo and a brass section.

Joining Aiden on stage at the London Stone in Cannon Street on Saturday will be Oliver Geer on bass, drummer Harry McDonald and Harry Whatrup on trumpet.

They all go to Fulston Manor School and have been spending most of the holidays rehearsing at Aiden’s house, in Key Street.

"We play together 10 hours a week during term time and roughly 40 hours a week during school holidays," said Aiden. "We’re obsessed!

"Fulston is a cool place to go to school – I passed my 11-plus but went to Fulston over the grammar school because of their music and IT facilities.

"It’s really cool how much people at our school enjoy our music even though there is nothing like this in the charts."

Aiden said he and the rest of the band were ecstatic at the opportunity to play live, but claimed Simon Cowell was killing live music.

"These days you get karaoke singers winning the X-Factor singing to a recording and kids think this is normal.

"They play other people’s songs and have no idea about the original artists and the place they were at when they wrote these songs.

"When you look back at music in ‘60s/70s and even the ‘80s and ‘90s, with Blur and Oasis, there were bands making proper music with instruments and getting commercial success."

And Skaciety will hope to be a success when they play at London Stone, 109 Cannon Street from 7pm on Saturday (August 11).

For more on the band, visit www.skaciety.com