A BAND originally from Worcester are proving to be a smash hit with the world’s longest-running music weekly.

The meteoric rise of Peace has been capped by three of their songs being selected in NME’s top 50 tracks of 2012.

Now 60 years old, the magazine tipped the group as one of 100 new bands to look out for at the beginning of the year and chose Follow Baby, Bloodshake and California Daze to be worthy of their end-of-year countdown.

Vocalist and guitarist Harry Koisser said: “All boasting aside, it’s kind of weird and amazing.

“At the beginning of the year we were an unsigned band with one demo and now we’ve got three songs in the NME songs of 2012 and confirmed for the awards tour.

“There’s still a long way to go but its kind of marvellous, right?”

Formerly known as November and The Criminal, the four-piece, who are completed by Sam Koisser, Doug Castle and Dom Boyce, are now based in Birmingham and signed with Columbia Records earlier in the year.

Before venturing to the second city, Doug and Dom attended Bishop Perowne CE College, while Sam and Harry went to Droitwich Spa High School and Nunnery Wood High School respectively.

They have also been chosen to open the NME Awards Tour 2013, following in the footsteps of the likes of Coldplay, Arctic Monkeys and Florence + The Machine.

Joining Django Django, Miles Kane and Palma Violets on a 13-date tour, they will play at Nottingham’s Rock City, the Great Hall in Cardiff and Brixton Academy in London, among other venues, in February. To prove they really are the magazine’s new darlings, they also head up the publication’s New Year’s Eve party at Koko in Camden, London.

Prior to that, they have a whistlestop world tour, visiting Milan, Los Angeles, New York and their adopted hometown of Birmingham. Their new single, Wraith, is released next month. For more information, go to peaceforeverever.co.uk.