A TEENAGE musician has performed the ballad he wrote in memory of his mother in front of Franz Ferdinand.

Elaine Parry and her partner Tony Baker were killed in September when their light aircraft crashed in the New Forest.

Elaine's son Dominic, 15, penned a tribute called Fly Home and his band, Deluge, got to play to the Glaswegian four-piece and watch them warm up before their Brighton Centre concert on Tuesday.

Dominic, of Clifton Terrace, Brighton, said: "I did not think I would be able to sing the song to Franz Ferdinand but at the time I found something to help me from somewhere and it went perfectly.

"I wrote it for my mum and Tony to try to describe how I'm feeling about it all and it's just saying how much I want them to come back.

"My mum was always saying she wanted me to sing because she thought I had a good voice. We went out for dinner on the Wednesday night and that was really the last time I saw her. She said to me then she really wanted me to start singing."

Dominic was told of the crash on September 25 after spending the weekend with his father.

He said: "Two weeks after the accident I went back to school because I knew that's what she would have wanted.

"The first verse just came to me when I was about to get on the bus at school on my first day back. I was thinking about how weird it was putting on my school uniform knowing my mum is never going to drive up here and take me home.

"Writing the song has definitely helped me. Everyone who is close to my family can completely relate to it. My mum and Tony were just incredible people."

Dominic and band mates, Jake Blanch, 15, from Brighton, Josh Barraclough, 15, from Eastbourne, and Louis Pavlo, 16, from the New Forest in Hampshire, arrived early for the gig and were allowed to meet Franz Ferdinand and play on stage using the Mercury Award-winning band's instruments.

Dominic said: "When we arrived we couldn't see anyone so we got on stage and started playing a cover of Arctic Monkey's I Bet You Look Good On The Dance Floor. Then the band members all rushed out from behind the stage and we continued playing. When we finished we put the instruments down and walked towards the stage exit when Alex Kapranos and Nick McCarthy came up to us and said they thought we were excellent."

After the gig the band were invited back stage for the after party with support acts The Rakes and Editors.

Deluge is in the first stage of London radio station Xfm's rock school competition. Their cover of I Bet You Look Good On The Dance Floor can be downloaded at www.xfm.co. uk. To vote for Deluge text ROCK Deluge to 83936 before November 21.