A TEENAGE Gwent band is hoping to impress the judges as they battle for the ultimate prize of winning a recording contract.

Rock band The Venture is an unsigned group from the Pontypool and Cwmbran area which formed in August 2009.

Lead singer Aidan Bradley, guitar player Jason Savory, Frank Morgan on bass guitar and Andrew Hughes on drums are now celebrating after getting through to the first round of the competition Live and Unsigned 2011 which aims to find the UK's best unsigned act.

Mr Bradley said: "We have been successful in the first round, beating hundreds of bands in the audition stages, but now it gets harder. In order to be successful in the next round, we not only need to impress the judges with our performance, but also we need to show that we can create a stir."

The groups has already performed at several locations across Gwent and won the WHY Factor in May 2010 at Newport's Riverfront Theatre.

The boys also performed at Birmingham's O2 Academy in July 2010 as part of the Music For Youth National Festival.

They have written their own song which they recently launched at a community centre in Cwmbran where they sold CDs and t-shirts to fans.

The band's next gig is an acoustic session at Cardiff Central Library on Saturday, February 26 at 1pm.