Choirboys Jamie McIntyre and Jack Norris showed no sign of harbouring a hidden passion for heavy metal as they sang in Magdalen College School choir.

But the 15-year-olds have now swapped sacred hymns for heavy riffs, reinventing themselves as rock outfit Lest We Forget to compete for a record deal.

Having just wowed the judging panel of the music competition Live and Unsigned they face another round with bandmates and fellow pupils Harry Lingard-Bright, 16, and Fergus Taylor, 15.

If successful they’ll then appear in the live final at the O2 arena in London to bid for £10,000 and a possible record deal.

It’s a long way from May Morning and the madrigals Jamie and bassist Jack, also known as JH, sang aged 11 in the choir at the highly-regarded Cowley Place private school.

Guitarist Jamie said: “My dad used to listen to lots of rock music – AC/DC and Queen – and now we play hard rock and metal.

“The whole performance is massively different to performing choral music where you stand there singing and looking angelic.

“In a rock band you have to perform and be a bit more hardcore.

“It’s the other end of the spectrum.”

As a chorister, Jamie sang at services every day and took his heavenly tones to one of Britain’s top concert halls.

He said: “We did perform at the Royal Albert Hall and performed a piece which Paul McCartney wrote.

“If there were enough people who wanted to come and see us it would be awesome to play at the Royal Albert Hall again.”

Jamie said Lest We Forget’s sound owed a lot to the musical tastes of his dad, who works in IT for RBS, and the band members’ current favourite groups Trivium and Bullet for My Valentine.

Drummer Fergus Taylor said: “Obviously we’re nervous, but really excited because it’s a big opportunity for us.

“For Jamie and JH it’s obviously very different and they have been trained to sing very well.

“But you wouldn’t notice that they used to be choirboys.”

The band is now set to perform at Sub89 in Reading on April 15 in the regional final showcase. The winner of the final will feature in a Sky TV documentary.

Also competing in the Live and Unsigned contest is drummer Jamie Staples, who lives in Fritwell, near Bicester, and his indie band The Claytons.