MINSTER Conspiracy, a teenage York rock band with an average age of 15, have made their way into the final of the Soundwaves Music Competition, beating more than 300 bands en route to the January 21 climax at the Leeds O2 Academy.

In the line-up are lead guitarist Ryan O Hara, 16, and bassist Ollie Warnes, 15, both from Manor CE Academy; singer Ellie Hodson, 14, from Millthorpe School; drummer Morgan Thomas, 14, from Joseph Rowntree School; and keyboard player and rhythm guitarist Sam Simpkin, from York College.

The band progressed through the audition process to the Checkpoint Stage and onwards to this month's final, prompting Ryan to say: "We have a huge list of people to thank for helping us reach this point, but mainly it is you guys, our mates at school and college; those of you that took the time to cast a vote when public voting was required; our new fans for joining us on this ride and all the fans that have been here since the beginning for sticking with us."

Ryan continues: "Without the support of a huge number of people, we cannot do this, and doing this the right way is our way of saying thank you. Hard graft, good rock songs and a little humility go a long, long way."

Minster Conspiracy are grafting away on writing new songs. "We have some great riffs and ideas and played a few at our show on December 9 at Fibbers, where we were the main support that night for a The Darkness tribute act called Permission To Tap," says Ryan.

Since then, he has had to turn his attention to this month's GCSE mocks at school. "Still gotta get that education," he says. "But we have a busy year coming up in 2017, so we shall see you down the front."

Over the past couple of weeks, Minster Conspiracy have been locked in the studio recording their debut EP. "We've been working on the songs for about six months now, playing them live and getting things right," says Ryan.

Addressing the band's fans on a January 10 post on the Minster Conspiracy website, Ryan writes: "We can't wait for you guys to hear the songs. We are so proud of how far we have progressed as a band over the last year and a lot of that is down to the help and support from you. Thank you all. It means the world to us to be able to do something like this at this stage in our band's life."

On the website too is a video of Morgan Thomas laying down a drum track for RollerCoaster. Where will this RollerCoaster rock'n'roll ride take Minster Conspiracy on January 21 in the Soundwaves final? Watch this space.