A WARRINGTON hard rock band have the chance to play alongside their idols after reaching the final stages of a big competition.

Target: Renegades have been shortlisted to play at Sweden Rock Festival which means they could be sharing a stage with the likes of Slash, Mötley Crüe, Def Leppard and Judas Priest.

They will find out if they have made it into the final 25 bands on Sunday.

The quartet are also battling it out to win a slot at Bloodstock in Derbyshire which will be headlined by Trivium, Within Temptation and Rob Zombie. Their first heat is in Crewe on March 15.

"It’s great because Bloodstock has such a good line-up," said guitarist Dan Fido.

"It’s a big open air festival in August and there are some massive bands playing. It’s tough at the moment because there are so many bands out there.

"Everything is saturated, there are not that many venues and money is tight for people as well so to get recognition from a pool of hundreds of bands in the north west is fantastic.

"It’s the same with the Sweden Rock Festival. They’ve got Mötley Crüe and Slash and Myles Kennedy so it’s really good to be in the running for those kinds of things and it’s a great platform for us."

In fact, Sweden Rock Festival is just the latest nod – or head bang –to their music from across the seas.

Dan, aged 25, added: "We’ve had airplay in Australia and France last year and we’ve had interest in America from people who use ReverbNation.

"It’s good be able to reach out to all those people and that’s how radio stations have got in touch with us as well

"We’ve got one fan who lives in South Africa and there are pictures of him in Cape Town wearing our T-shirt.

"He just found us by chance on Facebook. It’s mad to think you’ve got someone blaring your music out half way across the world."

Dan first picked up a guitar when he was 12 as his dad John plays.

The first song he learnt was Eric Clapton's Layla but he got into it more seriously when he was about 16 and was inspired by Avenged Sevenfold and Alter Bridge.

Dan and bassist Jack Hamnett met at Great Sankey High and have been in various bands together for about seven years.

Singer Adam Hulse and drummer Drummer Matthew Reid complete the current Target: Renegades line-up.

Dan told Weekend that playing at Sweden Rock Festival would 'mean the world'.

The New Hampshire Close resident said: "Slash and Miles Kennedy have been a big influence on me. They're our idols.

"It'd also be surreal because we’ve played with Mötley Crüe tribute bands before so to be playing with the real thing would be out of this world."

The band, whose record 'Press Start' was nominated for album of the year by radio station TBFM, also plan to get some advice from the stars if they win.

"We always try and chat with all the bands we play with," added Dan.

"Obviously we play with some people on the same level as us and some people just starting out and you learn from all of them.

"We played with a band a few years ago called I Am Giant who supported Slash around Australia and we stayed behind and had a drink with them and they were great.

"We learned so much from them because they were signed to Universal and they had been playing their set for two years. It really puts it into perspective."

- Target: Renegades will be playing at FAC251 in Manchester on January 24

DAVID MORGAN