HAVING only formed three months ago Ionise are getting ready to play their first gig to launch their first EP at a bar in Camden - the heart of London's music scene.

The metal band who dream of becoming as big as their idols Bullet For My Valentine, only got together after the break up of grunge band Neon Sky, who featured in the Uxbridge Gazette back in December.

Band member Luke Eustace said: "It sort of fell apart because our frontman left due to musical differences - like there always is in bands. Three of us were left hanging around so we decided to find some other people to join the band and we found Tony and Danny."

Ionise is now made up of Neon Sky's three former members, 20-year-old office manager, Luke, on drums, student Gareth Martin, 20, on guitar, and barman Dan Murray, 19, on base. Security technician Danny Cheetham, 20, joined the band as the lead guitarist in March and he brought with him student Tony Zimzy, 22, to be the frontman.

"We had a few practice runs and we really hit it off," explains Luke. "We are all into metal so we decided to go down that route instead of doing the same thing as Neon Sky.

"In Neon Sky there was too much emphasise on one person because he was the singer and he played guitar. When we were playing live he was glued to the spot because of the guitar and we wanted our frontman to be more mobile, so in Ionise Tony just sings. Also from a professional point of view if one of them was to leave now it wouldn't be such a blow to us."

The band also decided to change their name because Neon Sky had quite a bit of bad press.

"From a physical point of view the band is different because there are more of us and there is a much better balance now. There are different people doing dedicated jobs, so rather than doing two jobs averagely everyone is doing one job brilliantly.

"We are more energetic than Neon Sky because the grunge stuff was quite miserable and depressing," said Luke.

Ionise now have eight songs, which they have written collectively, and are getting ready to play their first gig at the Purple Turtle in Camden on August 3.

"We haven't played any gigs as Ionise yet because we have been really cramming hard in the practice area and we are currently putting the finishing touches to our first EP which is about to come out, but we don't have a name for it yet," explains Luke.

"In an ideal world we would like to go all the way with the band and play at places like the Download Festival and the Electric Ballroom in Camden. We would really like to go to the top and be as famous as bands like Bullet For my Valentine, Exit 10 and Killswitch Engage. Our music is a similar genre and sound to theirs."

Go to www.myspace.com/ioniseuk to find out more.