Will Dragons' Den slay the big dreams of Hamfatter?

Published on Monday 21 July 2008 10:31

Pop band braves programme in bid for £75k to help them make it.

GUITARIST James Ingham (pictured above) has longed to see his band hit the big time for six years. And tonight, TV viewers will see the Leith musician make an unusual attempt to fulfil his dreams – as he steps into BBC2's Dragons' Den.

Three-piece band Hamfatter appear in the opening episode of the series, which gives aspiring inventors and business brains the chance to bid for funding from a panel of hard-nosed investors.

And whatever happens, their appearance has succeeded in generating interest in the band, who now expect their new single to be debuted on Chris Moyles popular Radio One show tomorrow.

James admits he was sceptical when band manager Jamie Turner first suggested asking the daunting Dragons to open their wallets and fund their next album.

"My reaction was, 'that's such a terrible idea'," he said. "First of all, they're no way going to give money to some band, and we don't want to be 'that band that went on Dragons' Den'. But Jamie was quite persuasive."

James finally agreed in the hope that a 75,000 cash injection would help Hamfatter make it big without the interference of a record label.

"We've released three albums and it's all been done independently without a record label," he said.

"To get to the next level we needed the kind of massive backing that you get from a record label, but we didn't want to go with a major company because they then take total control – what you release, when you release it, what you wear and so on.

"We thought about all these other bands that are ditching their record labels, like Radiohead releasing their album online."

The band spent two and a half hours in the Den, performing a few of their whimsical guitar numbers and then launching into the hard sell.

"Apparently we were in there for longer than anyone had ever been in there before. They absolutely grilled us.

"They said, 'this isn't the X-Factor, it's not Pop Idol' and we said, 'that's not what we're after. People go on those programmes to be told if they're any good, but we've been on the circuit for a while and we've paid our dues'."

Multi-millionaire investor Deborah Meaden thought the band members were pulling a fast one by trying to hold back a share of the profits for themselves, but in fact they had just been too clueless to include them in the business plan.

"We thought we were being thorough by saying we wanted 75,000 in exchange for a percentage of the royalties, and they thought we were being cunning because we hadn't offered them sponsorship or a share from live performances.

"It hadn't even occurred to us – we've made a loss on every gig we've done. But they thought they'd found our cunning deal, so we said, 'oh, go on then, you've twisted our arm.' "

Ahead of tonight's screening, James and fellow band members Eoin O'Mahony and Mark Ellis are sworn to secrecy as to whether the Dragons decided to back the band.

Whatever the outcome, he hopes the TV appearance will help shift copies of their latest single, The Girl I Love, which is released online on Monday and is in the shops on August 11.

Hamfatter plan to release their next album around the end of the year, but will it be funded by the Dragons? James remains tight-lipped: "You'll just have to find out tonight." Dragons' Den is on BBC2 at 9pm.