Tell me a little about your journey to this point?

"Our journey so far has led us to many highs and lows and given us the opportunity to play to thousands of people across Europe. From playing to no one in pubs and a year or so later be touring with Magnum playing to thousands was amazing. The low comes in thinking’ what if it never happens?"

Where do you see yourselves at the end of this year?

"Well! ... with all the work we have been doing down in London recently, working with producer Nick Tauber on lots of new tracks as well as meeting quite a few industry people, we are really hoping we can get signed by then and be working on a new album with a label backing us!"

Having seen you perform live, the experience is very different to listening to a CD.

"Thank you! well we all love playing live and feel this is what we do best as a band! It's great to see people enjoying the show and be able to play the tracks you have been working on for months, its a great feeling when it's going well! All we hope is that people enjoy the show for whatever reason and that we do ourselves justice."

John, you are an extremely confident performer. Is that something that comes naturally to you?

Tell me about your ‘scary eyes!’

"Many people talk about my scary eyes, I think I must save them for on stage. I think they just happen when singing certain lines, I'm really not sure as I don't get to watch myself!!"

You look as though you are totally immersed in the music…

"When I'm on stage I do go into another place, and don't really know what I'm doing or about to do! Things just happen, and then the track ends and you remember that you need to get your other guitar on!"

Paul, the speed at which you were drumming in This Life was incredible- how fast was it?

 "Very fast! I'm glad it's the song we usually finish on 'cos the arms ache a bit after! It's about 18 hits every 140 beats per minute bar or something like that."

Who has inspired your drumming style? 

"The great John Bonham from Zeppelin is probably the drummer that is most inspirational but Larry Mullen Jnr of U2 is pretty good too."  

 PJ on the band…"It represents an opportunity to earn a living doing something I really enjoy along with my two bros (and friend)"

What music do you like to listen to when you’re not playing?

"Predominantly classic rock: Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Love, Doors etc.
Some cheesy rock: Journey, Europe, Bon Jovi etc.
More recently: Nickleback, Bullet For My Valentine, aramore, Incubus, Limp Bizkit, Stevie Wonder and Jay-Z."

  How do you cope working with 3 brothers Dan?

"It's all good really; there are occasions where I've had to step in and break up the odd tiff or two, and when artistic decisions come down to a "democratic" vote I can sometimes get ganged up on a bit! But generally speaking it all goes pretty smoothly; of course, from a musical point of view, the brotherly bond extends into the mix and gives us a tightness that you can sometimes really struggle to achieve in other musical settings"

The band must be all consuming at the moment- how do you guys find time for a ‘normal’ life?

"We certainly spend a lot of time on the band, rehearsing, writing, re-working etc. and we'll have some festivals as well that we'll play in the summer. We can't wait to record our album now and get out on the road as well. We need backing for this though and after some London industry showcases we've got a couple of labels interested, a publisher and a live agent so we're really hoping for something good to happen this year.
Besides this, we still get time for all the 'normal' things like going out, chilling with mates, watching footie and eating pizza!"

 ‘UXL - Destined for Major Attention'

 Young British rock band UXL are the three Tierney brothers John, PJ and Paul from Birmingham (20-23) and long time friend Dan Clark from Wolverhampton. Their music has been compared to many of the rock heavyweights but UXL are essentially a melodic rock band with an epic sound - sweeping, accessible rock with pop sensibilities.

Last summer UXL were contacted by producer Nick Tauber (Thin Lizzy, Marillion, Toyah Wilcox, Def Leppard) He was greatly impressed by the foursome and offered to help with recording new songs. Following industry showcases in London, UXL have attracted a lot of attention from the music industry including live agents, publishers and several major record labels.

A few years have passed since the teenage brothers decided that they were going to be in a rock band and remarkably the youngest brother is still only twenty, yet they've packed an extraordinary amount of experiences into their time together. From friend's birthday parties, to sticky carpeted pubs to clubs and festivals, the live scene is where UXL are particularly strong with their trademark epic approach being central to their live performances. Already for 2010, UXL are booked onto several festivals in the summer and a potential visit to China is also being planned as well as a UK tour.

The early days saw them play to over 20,000 people at Sandwell Festival, record an acoustic session at the BBC studios, and meet Metallica's FOH sound engineer the legendary big Mick Hughes who described UXL's frontman John Tierney as having 'one of the most powerful voices he had ever heard.' In later days, UXL were invited to support Wishbone Ash at Cambridge which was hailed as a great success and valuable experience for the young band. Slots at Barfly, Cambridge Rock Festival, Birmingham Arts Festival, In The City Manchester, as well as many radio acoustic sessions and interviews followed.

UXL's memorable live performances caught the attention of legendary rockers Magnum who invited them as support on the UK leg of their European Tour. The tour incorporated nine top UK venues and UXL had an amazing response from the crowds and reviewers and were then invited to tour Switzerland, Germany and Czech Republic.

UXL's music has attracted widespread impressive reviews from magazines like Music Connection, Metal Hammer, NME and Guitar & Bass Magazine. Classic Rock Society Magazine commented, 'Every now and again you come across something that really makes you sit up and take notice. . .It really shouldn't be this good. These guys deserve to be huge.' UXL have had widespread radio airplay in the US with the track 'Make It' reaching number 4 in the Indie charts. The President of Canadian Music Week invited UXL to play at CMW in 2008, Canada's largest entertainment event where they performed on the Amnesty International stage in Toronto.

So expect more great things from these guys!

By Rae Louvaine