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The winners of the prestigious title will walk away with the opportunity to play in front of music industry chiefs and play 2 slots at 2 major UK festivals. And they will drive away with – it’s the stuff of rock star daydreams – a fully functioning tour bus.

But this was no tacky battle of the bands, it was a showcase of grass-roots, local groups. The cavernous Bunters, with its mock tudor-cum-warehouse décor quickly filled up with both faithful fans - and the curious - all swigging Red Stripe. And they were in for a rare treat. It’s not often that you get such passionate performances in such quick succession or so many free beer samples. This was real, new music - the culmination of a thousand sweaty jam sessions in garages and college music rooms.

A well-known face on the local Cornish music scene, Amy May kicked off proceedings with a melodic acoustic set. Sitting on chair with just a guitar she succeeded in holding the audience’s attention where a whole band can fail - her crystal clear voice hanging hauntingly in the air. It was a great performance but not a taste of things to come – if anything it lulled the crowd into a false sense of security – which didn’t last for long.

For the next band, from that very first note, the 5-piece Downtown Riots, had the crowd. Owning the stage, 18 year-old Chloe Edwards roared her unapologetically abrasive lyrics in a female Rage Against the Machine fashion. Listing their influences as Rancid, F-minus and Exploited, they’re thrashy, hard and punky - and they use the f-word - a lot. The Downtown Riots were so tight it’s hard to believe that they have only been playing together for four months – and perform with the confidence of a band that has already made it – or knows that it will.

Next up Rick’s Rebel’s bounded onto stage with the youthful enthusiasm of a group that just loves to perform. After an act like the Downtown Riots, pulling back a somewhat awestruck and shell-shocked crowd is an unenviable task, but the infectious and charismatic front man, Jordski, wooed the audience with his lively banter and stage parkor as the 4-piece turned out their brand of Indie rock with a touch of pop. They’re good, they’re fun and they even have a headdress-wearing samba-dancing friend of their mums that sashays to the last song of their gig – the manic dancey, Dancing like Flames. A euphoric Ele Lucas, the female bassist and backing vocalist announced that her fingers were “nearly bleeding” after the show – and you can see why. They don’t hold back – and there is something in that that makes the audience unleash and dance along with them.

After two pretty full-power bands, the softer strains of Ammunition filled the venue. The group which confesses to being “victims of our dad’s record collections” – Queen, The Police, The Beatles, Springsteen, and Neil Young among others - gave a passionate and varied performance – on a folky, alternative, rock vein. They describe themselves as sounding a little like a cross between the Guillemots and Kings of Leon. Hailing from the beautiful, Cornish, sea-side village of St Agnes, you can almost hear the waves and sunbeams seeping into their laid-back sound - but maybe for the audience that night they needed something more charged.

Finally, sharp-dressers, The Sycamores took to the stage. With their monochrome, pinstripe get-up these boys look like they mean business. And they do. Each track is straight and direct – with that distinctive, punchy, kind of frantic sound. Vocally they sound similar to Bloc Party, describe themselves as Indie/post punk/rock and list their influences as Tokyo Police Club, Modest Mouse and The Rakes. The boys, who met at school and through friends seem focused. They promised to “go harder than any band in the competition” should they get into the finals. You get the impression these guys have the drive to succeed – they practiced for 16 days straight before the gig – and so well turned out too.

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