AN INVERCLYDE man’s band has scooped a major prize after impressing a panel of judges in a prestigious BBC contest.

Bottle Rockets won BBC Introducing’s Scottish Act of the Year, seeing off competition from hundreds of entrants.

The band is made up of Greenock bassist Andrew Cummings, singer Kenzi Murray, guitarist John Taburrini and drummer Sam Rae.

They made the final four of the competition following a public vote last week.

All four finalists performed live for an expert panel of judges in Glasgow on Wednesday night.

Bottle Rockets prize includes two recording sessions at BBC Radio Scotland, a bespoke PR campaign and a performance slot at Scotland’s biggest music festival, TRNSMT.

They said: “We’d just like to say thank you so much to everyone who voted for us to even get here.

"We were honoured just to be part of the process in general let alone to be selected out of more than 500 artists, it’s insane.

“Thanks to the judges tonight for choosing us and thanks to everyone who’s listening to our music, it’s absolutely surreal.

“We are all in shock at the moment but it’s very fulfilling to get this recognition.”

The Scottish Act of the Year live performances will be broadcast on BBC Radio Scotland tonight from 8pm, as well as on the BBC Scotland channel at 10pm tomorrow.