Rock band Lato have had bigger ups and downs that most struggling musicians. Finchley band member Mike Varnava tells MIRIAM CRAIG their story.

Mike Varnava and his four fellow band members thought their dreams had come true when they were invited to Los Angeles to record their first album.

The invitation had come by chance when synth player Kiki Dugdale’s brother met a business partner at record company Velocity.

Mike, 30, of Church Crescent, says: “Velocity is run by Russ Regan, who’s the man behind Elton John. They listened to one of our singles Kiki’s brother just happened to have on him, and he seemed to really like it.”

Mike, the band’s bass player, flew out to LA in September 2007 with drummer Jake Blair and singer Alex Lato, both 29, to start recording, and at first, all went well — the band were offered a four-album deal, with a £250,000 marketing budget, and were taken to Grammy and Oscar parties, spotting people like Al Pacino and Andy Garcia.

Mike says: “We continued with the album and were on the point of signing the contract. We were all on a bit of a high, living the high life in LA.”

But in early 2008, after they had finished recording, the band found out Velocity’s parent company had withdrawn funding, forcing them to abandon the project. There was nothing to do but return to London, not quite empty-handed — they had recorded their first album, called The Rest is History — but with no record deal.

“It was a real blow,” says Mike. “We had got used to the idea of having this deal given to us. But looking back on it now, we’ve got a lot from that experience. The band is stronger and we’ve written some really good songs inspired by it all.”

Fellow band member Alex agrees. He said: “The most valuable thing we got from it was the experience dealing with top end record people and spending the intense time in the studio that we did. It made the band grow up. I almost think of it as a doctorate from the university of the music industry.”

Lato first got together three years ago when Alex recruited Mike, who was an old school friend, and intermittent collaborators Jake and Kiki. The line-up was completed when guitarist Simon Bowker joined a year later.

Mike says: “It’s a combination that seems to work well. We often write songs as a team. We start with a guitar part or a bass line, and gradually it comes together.”

The group, whose sound is reminiscent of Joy Division meets Coldplay meets Kings of Leon, also cite Van Halen, U2, Elliot Smith and Flock of Seagulls among their influences, are now working on their second album.

Since the LA debacle they have been featured on 30 radio stations across the world, done radio interviews and racked up many thousands of plays for their songs on the music networking site, Myspace.

Mike says: “Some bands would have taken it as a really big blow and given up then and there. But there was no way we were going to stop. We love what we do.”

To listen to Lato’s music, go to myspace.com/latomusic or search for The Rest Is History on iTunes.