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I love to be able to say I told you so. I stumbled across Melancholy Moose Society by accident last autumn when I went to watch my daughter perform at a showcase by Yeovil College music students; and I was very impressed by their music, their energy and their timing.

I predicted big things for them in a BBC Somerset review back then, and my instincts have proved accurate, because early this month they were chosen best out of eight bands from all over the county who had made it through to the finals in Taunton.

Judges included Michael Eavis, Pinstripe singer Josh Thorner (the band who won last year’s competition) and music industry executives. Their prize? To perform on the John Peel stage at Glastonbury Festival this year, and to record an EP at a professional recording studio in Somerset.

“We’re super happy,” said lead singer Ian Williams, who didn’t mind my comparing him to Joe Cocker in my review in the slightest. “If we get the success that previous winners Blackbud and Pinstripe have enjoyed we’ll be cock-a-hoop.”

L to R: Adam, Jay, Alex and Ian

The band members are all second year BND Music Technology students at Yeovil College, aged between 17 and 18. Describing the bands music as “charity shop indie pop”, Ian writes the band’s songs; his lyrics are whimsical and amusing, recalling a Britain of Ealing comedies, cups of tea, old fashioned manners and ordinary everyday things interspersed with images of travelling to the seaside in a car filled with gin. 

“He’s got a thing about gin,” say the other band members. “It crops up a lot in his lyrics.” Ian can’t explain why. “I do like to drink it mixed with wine,” he says, “but I think I just like the whole old-fashioned reputation it’s got- mother’s ruin and all that.”

Ian’s been told his lyrics are similar to Half Man Half Biscuit but he says he doesn’t like to reel off a whole list of influences lest the band get pigeonholed. “I would say we have been influenced more heavily by the Animals of Farthing Wood and charity shops than we have by The Libertines and The Smiths”, he says. “I write about normal everyday things; I like people-watching. I don’t write about angsty personal things, girls, broken hearts and stuff. Sometimes it’s completely fabricated stories, sometimes it’s our perceptions of situations. Strange and diverse things fire my imagination and start off a song.”

Lead guitarist Adam Winter and drummer Alex Gullis came from a heavier, metal-inspired background and you can hear their contributions in juggernaut riffs on songs like Stiff Upper Lip, a weaving, thundering song that sounds like the Kaiser Chiefs crossed with The Buzzcocks and overtones of The Undertones.

They’re lucky to get the balance right at this early stage. Drummer Alex and bassist Jay look more like skinny artistic emo types, singer and guitarist Ian and lead guitarist Adam look like heavier set brothers. Ian and Jay are acknowledged as the founding members and say their relationship is more like that of Pete and Carl (The Libertines) than Nigel and David (Spinal Tap). 

Ian said: "Although we come from different musical backgrounds, we share a love of charity shop clothes, a good cup of tea and cheesy pop – so we started to write catchy, quirky and fun indie pop songs." 

He is a brilliant frontman with plenty of character and eccentricity, rolling his eyes and holding his little finger out as if he’s holding a small sweet sherry, I loved the delightfully ratty lyrics “spending his Saturday nights watching Last of the Summer Wine”. They’re funny-peculiar and funny ha-ha. Ian says they’d play house parties and gigs in return for squash, rich tea biscuits and sherbert. I am sure money would not be turned down, however.

Big smoke beckons

Eight bands qualified for the final: Blue Roots and Hitchhikers from Taunton/West Somerset; Less Than Perfect and Intruder from Sedgemoor; Carl Rosa and Melancholy Moose Society from South Somerset; Fletcher and The Heroine Twins from Mendip.

Josh Thorner, lead singer of last year’s winning band, Pinstripe, was on the judging panel for this year’s competition. "I really enjoyed judging the competition this year. Last year’s final was an amazing turning point for Pinstripe, not only did we get to perform alongside many great bands from Somerset, we also won a slot at Glastonbury. The competition helped us to gain national and international profile. We are now starting to work on our debut album.”

Melancholy Moose Society has a large loyal following in Yeovil, and the band has performed all over the south west, supporting acts like Jack Harrison and British Sea Power, lugging their equipment on trains and buses, sleeping on floors and roughing it in the time-honoured tradition of bands who are just starting out. Now they’ve won the coveted Glastonbury slot, offers of gigs further afield are starting to roll in, including some in London.

“I expect we’ll soon start being approached by agents and managers who will rip us off and get us to sign our lives away,” says Adam, “but I don’t mind. At least we’ll be able to say we’ve done it, been there and been ripped off!”

The band all live in Yeovil and say they like the town. “It’s close to lovely countryside and close to the seaside,” says Ian. “I find when I’ve been abroad I am always happy to be back home. It just doesn’t feel right anywhere else. England has a peculiar and unique culture that I really miss when I am away.”

Adam chips in: “However I don’t think that any of us would want to stay in Yeovil forever.”

The band is managed by Ian and Alex, who are planning to start selling merchandise. “I would like to have Melancholy Moose Society bubble bath, like the old Matey bottles but with our heads on the top. We used to sell lighters and socks - we’d buy a load of plain ones from the market and draw a moose on.”

If you’re lucky enough to get a ticket to Glastonbury this year, check the programme for the performance time, get to the John Peel stage and support your local heroes with a hale and hearty Somerset riot.