Austin Drage exited in the fourth week on last year's X Factor after giving memorable performances of 'Every Breath You Take' and 'Mack The Knife'. The young Essex singer visited DS yesterday to play us some covers and chat to us about his music plans. Click play below to watch his performance of 'Billie Jean'.



How have the last 12 months been for you?
"The last 12 months have been absolutely fantastic actually. I have supported Rod Stewart at the Butterfly Ball, which was fantastic. It was great for the charity and great for the profile. I did another ball, where I played with a 93-piece orchestra, which blew my mind. For any musician, playing with an orchestra is a great thing. Again that raised a lot of money for charity and I do love my charity work. Doing something you love and raising money for people in need is a fantastic achievement."

What have you been up to with your band?
"We've been working on the album, which is going really, really well. We've got some great writers on board. The same writers who have released things with Lily Allen and done lots of stuff with Tinchy Stryder. I'm overjoyed to be working with them. We've been really busy, running around gigging and it's had a really good reception. I take a live band everywhere I go, which is really good because on X Factor we do everything to backing tracks, so it's really nice to be able to sit down with a live band and say, 'Look this really me, this is the stuff you didn't get to see'. I'm really enjoying it."

What sort of sound is your new material?
"All I can tell you is that the stuff I'm working on at the moment has a classic feel. It has that classic sound. When you listen to someone like Duffy, or maybe when you first listen to Amy Winehouse, it has that real '60s twang. I love that because it feels familiar, but fresh. That's what I want to do. I love the classics, but there's nothing like a fresh hit, so I'm trying to blend the two together. We feel as writers, we're achieving that."

Is it tough when you don't win The X Factor to start all over again?
"It's extremely tough when you come off the back of X Factor, because in the nicest possible way you are tossed in the bin. It's up to you to climb out of it. Everyone on the show is talented, whether it's as entertainers or musicians. But it's all about the way you put yourself out there. For me, I didn't want to go out without a live band. People got to see me playing guitar or a bit of drums, something a bit different. Mixing it up a bit, so people see you a different light and not just giving them something they've already seen and are bored of."

Are you almost pleased that you didn't win because that means you get to work on your own material?
"For me I didn't see it as winning or losing. I just went in and gave it a good hard shot. The fact people heard me and I have a chance now to get my music out there, that's good enough for me. If you go into something looking to win, it's the wrong attitude. You should be looking to better yourself. I took a lot away from the show, I met a lot of people in the industry and I progressed. I'm only a loser when I throw in the towel. X Factor was never my dream, it was just a great platform and a great opportunity."

Austin performs Sam Sparro's 'Black And Gold'



Additional reporting by Chris Allen and Tom Mansell.