The Unconventionals were the most individual act to make it through to this year’s X Factor finals. In a shocking twist, they were evicted during the first live show of the season by Simon Cowell.

I caught up with Lucy Newton today to find out how The Unconventionals felt about their sudden exit from the X Factor and what the future holds for the group.

How did The Unconventionals come together?

Well, Drew was really the lynchpin of the band - he knew most of us already and a couple of us had worked together in the past. Drew came up with the idea of putting a group together for the X Factor, so he contacted us and we started rehearsing for the show.

We got together about three months before the show started.

How did you come to be called The Unconventionals?

Well, it was Drew’s idea initially, although in hindsight having such a long name might have cost us text votes! We were sort of hoping that the producers would allow us to change the name down the line - I think they did that in the first series with G4. Sadly it doesn’t matter now!

The Unconventionals seem to have a very distinctive sound for such a short time together. How did that come about?

Well, there are six people in the band who can sing in their own right. Liz (Ewing) is a very rocky singer. I’ve got quite a high pitched, youthful voice, being the youngest in the group and Drew has a poppy style. Mark Hudson [Sharon's vocal coach] compared us to The Beach Boys. They had a distinctive sound…when you heard those vocal harmonies you knew who you were listening to.

I think that was the idea behind The Unconventionals, to have a unique sound.

Your X Factor profile says your musical influences include Carrie Underwood, Kelly Clarkson, and 50 Cent. That’s pretty diverse. I didn’t have you down as a gangsta rapper!

[Laughs] I quite like R&B music, their studio voice is the real thing. What you hear on the record is what you’ll hear on stage.

Tell me more about your career before The Unconventionals and X Factor.

When I was 17, I played the second cover for Eponine in Les Miserables. I did 5 performances of that show, and although I was nervous, it was such great experience.

After that, I had roles in Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Footloose the musical and Taboo which is where I met Drew. I also did Fame in Holland.

How did you feel getting through auditions, boot camp and through to the live show?

Tom was always the positive one in the group and every audition he’d say “we’re getting through”. The worst was in Louis Walsh’s house, we thought we weren’t going to get through.

We’d been practicing late into the night and Drew decided to stay up and practice in the bathroom, but it just wouldn’t go in. In the end, he kept forgetting the words. That audition was just destined to be a disaster! That was the boot camp audition where we had the fluff-up with the Queen song.

The first day at Louis’ house where we sang Push The Button and Everybody Hurts was great. The production crew loved it and everybody was asking us to record it as their ringtone. On the second day we sang Dedicated To The One I Love by The Mamas and The Papas.

What was Louis Walsh’s Boot Camp like?

The experience was good and we started to bond with the other contestants like 4Sure and the McDonald Brothers. We were at Louis’ house for quite a while, which meant we got to know some of the other groups.

What was it like living in the X Factor house?

Well, we spent 3 weeks in the X Factor house. 24 people living under one roof was always going to be testing, tensions could be raised. You’d be sitting in a room and someone would come in, switch on the stereo and then walk out again. Even things like washing up caused quite a few house meetings!

What did you think of your performance on last Saturday’s show?

We didn’t feel we performed to the best of our abilities on the night. We thought Simon was a bit harsh saying we were diabolical. That pantomime between Simon and Louis took over and we weren’t even given time to respond to his criticism.

I appreciate there has to be a certain amount of pantomime in order to play to the audience. But Simon Cowell knows how powerful he is. People listen to what he says, and he knew what he was doing when he said we were diabolical.

If you could do it again, what would you have done differently?

We’d probably - that’s a hard question - until we got on the stage we didn’t realise anything was wrong. If I had it to do again, I’d make the backing track simpler so that the vocals could work better.

Did the band expect to be leaving so early in the series?

We hoped we’d get a couple of weeks of performances. The majority of the voting public are teen girls who are likely to vote for the good looking boys, so we didn’t ever think we’d win.

Will The Unconventionals be staying together? Some of the visitors on our forum have been asking me if you’re likely to be releasing an album. Is there a record deal in the pipeline?

We’ve had a lot of positive feedback from the show. We’ve had offers for gigs and appearances.

The future is we’re going to start recording and hopefully release an album next year. We’ve had some interest from record companies.

Presumably you’ll be doing the X Factor tour when the show ends?

Yes, although we’re not sure of dates yet. We may end up appearing at a handful of the dates.

What are your opinions of the judges?

Well, I think what Simon said about us was very harsh. Having said that, he met us in the corridor afterward and shook our hands and said “you guys are brilliant but your song let you down”. Simon’s very intelligent and he really knows what he’s talking about, but the rivalry with Louis got on top of him.

I’m full of praise for Louis. He’s been supportive of us all along and he’s still being supportive even now, giving us advice. He’s as disgusted as we are about being ejected. I think Louis is very intelligent and loyal, but he’s sometimes overshadowed by Simon. He’s lovely though.

We didn’t see much of Sharon throughout the competition, so I couldn’t really comment. We appeared on her chat show yesterday and she came across as very loyal too.

Who’s your favourite act from those remaining? Who are you rooting for to win?

My personal favourite is 4Sure. The remind me of Boyz II Men [we had a bit of a debate as to whether that was a good of bad thing]. They’re really talented boys and they’re really focussed. While they were rehearsing last Friday, Simon told them to start from scratch and re-do their song. The day before the live show! Yet they worked hard on improving their act. They’ve got clever harmonies, they’re talened and focussed.

Having said that, I think Leona will win it. Simon speaks very highly of her and people are influenced by his opinion. What did he say about her? “There’s never been a performer of your calibre in the UK before” or something like that.