³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ

Formed a couple of years ago, the Wellington-based five piece Lady Fortune specialise in melodic slices of indie pop powered by observations of "pretty girls and badly behaved boys". Having met through college friends and local acquaintances, the band have progressed from the pubs of Telford to sharing a bill with the likes of Bromhead's Jacket, The Young Knives and The Paddingtons at venues all around the country.

"You can imagine how thrilled I was when James used to email me from Rough Trade," singer Nick Robinson remembers, "I'd smile for a week. It was just nice how he would reply to your emails when no other industry person had the time or manners to do so."

The band recently recorded their single Mr Brown in London. But success can inevitably only come after some major touring, something the band are more than prepared to do. "Playing live is the fun bit, well most of the time. It's pretty good playing around the country now because we don't just play to 10 people anymore."

All members of the band work in a "variety of crap jobs, except Graham (Meek, guitar) who works in a bank and earns lots of money". Lyndon Thompson (drums) works on market stalls, Olly Burslem (guitar) is a handy man in London while Nick works in a kitchen. These jobs would be readily given up should the big time beckon and they "start earning money from this music lark".

Live session on Friday Night Gerbil

The next 12 months will be crucial in determining the band's future with the forthcoming single the priority for the moment. After that the picture becomes less clear.

"It's a bit odd because we always wanted to release something, anything will be fine then we can call it a day and know we didn't waste our time. But now we have the single ready, you get a hunger for it and you just want to release more and more."

Ambitions are tricky things to decide upon and then limit. But for all Lady Fortune's dreams of tours, albums and success, Nick believes ultimately it is their ambition "to be happy."