It takes in-depth planning, hours of tortuous preparation, months of careful practice and painstaking rehearsals to make it to the top of the music business.

Or, if you're Hull metal band Outspoken Silence, you could just turn up and wing it on the day.

It's seemed to work for the six-piece so far. After finding out they were due to perform in the national Kit Kat Battle Of The Bands competition a mere 24 hours before the show, they took to the stage a tad under-prepared but ended up taking the regional heat by storm and winning at Hull University last week.

"We were completely unprepared for the competition to be honest," says Nick Cobley, one of the band's dual frontmen.

"We'd applied to enter but we'd been having problems getting on to the Internet so we hadn't got the message saying that we'd been accepted. We only found out the day before so it was all a bit of a rush to even get there on the night.

"We were even still deciding what we were going to play a few minutes before we went on stage – but it seemed to work. Maybe we should be less prepared in the future and we could go a long way.

"I think the moral of this story is make sure you get proper broadband access."

Now the hard-rocking sextet are set for the competition's grand final where they'll take on the winners of six other regional heats, in London, early next year. The final victors will pocket £3,000 in prize money as well as securing time in a top London recording studio.

The band are now hoping to take several coach loads of Hull fans down to the capital with them to provide them with some home town support.

The cash prize could prove especially helpful in pushing the band to the next level, says Nick.

The first thing the group would do with any prize money would be invest in a replacement for Bertha – the band's ex-Parcel Force van.

"Bertha's gone," says Nick. "She was a knackered old LDV van – but she never actually broke down on us on the road.

"But one day she just refused to go any more. We definitely need a new van. It's a nightmare cramming all the gear into cars and travelling about the country.

"We also really want to get back in the studio to record some of our new songs," says Nick. "Then we can use that as a calling card to send to labels and management who can move us up to the next level in 2010."

Van or no van, the west Hull band won't have too far to travel for their next few gigs which are at the Rock-It all day Festival, at the Queens Hotel, Bridlington, on Sunday, and at the Love Music Hate Racism gig, at Hull City Hall, on Sunday, November 29.

"We're really looking forward to the local dates," says Nick. "It will be a nice way to say thank you to everybody who turned up to support us at Hull Uni and to go forward into Christmas and the new year really on a roll for the final in January.

"The gigs in Bridlington are always really good because it's a little venue that gets packed out with tons of people, which creates a great atmosphere, but we're also looking forward to getting on to that big stage at the city hall. It'll be nice to have lots of space to go mad in."

Outspoken Silence play at the Rock-It Club, High Street, Old Town, Bridlington, on Sunday, November 22, from 1pm. Entry costs £5 on the door.

For more details call 07828 239482.