Matt Wilkinson signed four boys from Sunderland to his label in 2002. Their single, Hounds of Love, got to number eight in the charts and the Futureheads were famous. Michelle Fleming meets up with the record label owner from Sands.

AFTER years working for publishing companies in the music business, Matt Wilkinson warmed more and more to the idea of setting up his own label.

His timing was perfect. His idea lit just as four talented but as yet unknown lads, 300 miles away in Sunderland,were banging out their first demo CD to record companies.

The demo landed on Matt's desk. The obscure band were soon to become pop's latest punk craze, The Futureheads.

Matt remembers: "I was working at Rough Trade Publishing at the time and they sent me in a demo it was the first one they had ever made. I listened to it and I started shaking it was that good. I thought I really like this and knew it was going to be a rare record."

He continues: "I'd been seriously thinking about setting up a label it really was what I wanted to do and then they came along and it was just the perfect chance. I really liked the fact that they do not pretend to be American or sing in American accents. The guys sing in their own dialects. They are not pretentious at all. They have post-punk elements which is popular now, stuff from the late 70s and 80s there's a resurgence in that. "

Matt, 29, wasted no time and set up Project Cosmonaut Records label with pal Nick Ellson, who lives in Chinnor Road, near West Wycombe, from Matt's bedroom at his home in Gilletts Lane, Sands.

Matt, who has played bass in various local bands over the years, continues: "I just struck up a dialogue with Ross from the band and we became friends. I asked them if they'd like me to release them. Of course they were keen to get a record out. I went up to Sunderland and they signed with me. That record came out in 2002.

Matt paid for the four-track EP, called Nul Book Standard, to be mixed at Abbey Road studios and released it on 7'' format only. These days the hard to come by EPs are classed as collectables and are swapping hands on E-bay for big bucks.

Of course recording the EP was one thing but getting it airtime in the hugely competitive musical arena was quite another.

Matt was right at the coalface.

He recalls: "I had to physically take the record into the shops in London myself and sell it on a sale-or-return basis. Getting a record out costs a lot of time and money but if it's the right record I'll go for it."

Fortunately for Matt, a former St Bernard's RC school pupil, his listening ear was spot on and that first-time feeling he got when he tuned into the Futureheads proved contagious.

DJs at London's rock radio station XFM were soon flying The Futureheads's flag and it wasn't long before London and the music world were at the feet of these four unlikely Northern lads.

"They were just four unassuming lads from the North East," enthuses Matt. "They started off at a project for detached youth where they had to write songs to help young people who were going a bit wayward. Now they've made it."

After a year with Cosmonaut and with the explosion in interest, the band moved across to the bigger label, Fantastic Plastic, in early 2003, to release their '1-2-3-Nul!' EP, following it with First Day, which charted at No. 1 in the indie chart. Hits in the mainstream charts followed, including a number eight charting with their Hounds of Love single they've since toured with giants Franz Ferdinand.

Of course it's excitement all around for Matt, whose entire Sands household is shushed up when his lads bound on stage before screaming fans during television appearances, such as their recent CD-UK performance.

I ask Matt, who beams like a proud parent when he speaks of their success, if he feels a tad left behind. After all, would we remember Brian Epstein if he disappeared off the scene just after Can't Buy Me Love came out?

Matt says frankly: "Of course bigger labels have a lot more money at their disposal. They were exclusive to me for a year and that felt really good but of course it was better for me that they went on and made it big. There'd be no point or satisfaction in discovering a band that never went anywhere. I'm not into football but following their progress is what I imagine following a football team is like. It's so exciting, especially when I hear that they've released a new record."

He laughs: "It's my dream that they get on Top of the Pops it would just be the ultimate irony that four guys from the North East get on Top of the Pops.

So is Matt planning on staying on board for the long haul next time around.

He nods: "I'm more interested in managing now and taking them the whole way instead of releasing them and then stepping back to let someone else take them the rest of the way. It's always difficult to find the right bands.

He adds: "It would be great to champion a band from where I grew up. Just as long as it's the right band, I'd be happy. I think that what this goes to show is that you don't have to be in London to do worthwhile stuff in the music business. we were based in High Wycombe Cosmonaut Records: project_cosmonaut@hotmail.com