Hamfatter hit the right notes on Dragons' Den

Monday, 21 July 2008

When Indie band Hamfatter decided to take on Peter Jones in the Dragons' Den they had no idea that they would walk away with £75,000 to produce their own album.

They accepted Peter Jones offer to take 30% of all royalties they would make from any future albums...and in a Dragons' Den first they secured a deal - the first band to do so.

Hamfatter's first single 'The Girl I Love' was released on iTunes and Play.com earlier today.

Their lead singer, Eoin O'Mahony, told The Times: "We released a single last year that got to No 53 in the charts and we did have some record label interest but the deals were ludicrous. They absolutely screw you.

"They only offered us about 30p per album. You have to sign away any right to how your songs are recorded and you have to pay your advance back. You can end up owing the label hundreds of thousands of pounds."

He added: "We are hoping that we will never have to get a major record deal. No one else will be able to follow this exact route again but I don't see any reason why more entrepreneurs won't get involved like this if we are successful."

Dragons' Den (WENN image)

Hamfatter are set to take the music world by storm. NME believe they "carry an arsenal of power-pop nuggets including the amazing 'Sziget' which deserves to be a hit."

The Metro rate their Dragon Den backed album: "Gleefully bounding indie pop... Effervescent, Pavement-style clatter and the skipping earnest shimmies of Once Around The Block era Badly Drawn Boy… a delightfully fresh album.

The Sun gave them a 4 out of 5 for their album saying: "A hugely entertaining listen. Hamfatter's sonic palette includes indie rock, Sixties pop, horns, strings and, above all, style."

Dragons' Den is on tonight, BBC 2 9-10pm.

Peter Jones (WENN image)