Ziggy Stardust, a Pinball Wizard and Japanese cartoons all played their part in inspiring an Oxfordshire band into the regional finals of a national music competition.

Indie-rock act The Elrics beat hundreds of bands to win a place in the local heat of the Live And Unsigned contest.

The four-piece will now showcase their talents in front of industry judges to earn the chance to perform for ex-Sex Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren in the competition’s national final in London.

If the band wins the contest, its blend of catchy 1970s- and 1980s-inspired tunes will be immortalised on a single produced and distributed UK-wide by competition backers Future Music.

Lead guitarist Andy Dunn, 23, of Halifax Road, Bicester, said: “We have been working on this for years and I believe in our ability.

“But we really just want to get our music heard — it doesn’t matter on what scale.”

The band was formed in October last year after the quartet of Mr Dunn, singer Marc Hall, 24, drummer Jake Roos, 21, and bass guitarist Gareth Gwyn, 24, decided on a change of direction from their previous group, Fatally Yours.

All four met while pupils at Gosford Hill School in Kidlington, and the band was named after the lead character in a Japanese cartoon called Fullmetal Alchemist.

The group, whose influences include David Bowie, The Who and REM, won their place in the regional final by performing their track She Doesn’t Exist to judges in Bristol.

The rockers will return to the city on April 26 to face 19 other acts. Half of those will make it through to an area final, and the top two go on to a national final in London in June.

Mr Dunn, who will shortly start work at Oxford computer games company Rebellion, said the band would play She Doesn’t Exist again and a cover of indie band Counting Crows’s Mr Jones.

Mr Roos, from Bullingdon Road, in East Oxford, said: “We were writing about 30 songs a month before but now we are sticking with a few and putting 100 per cent into them.

“With the material we have at the moment I think we have got a very good chance of getting further.”

Mr Gwyn, from Balliol Road, Bicester, added: “It is the best feeling in the world, being able to show people something that we have created, and expressing yourself on the stage.”