From Totnes to Hollywood, the band catapulted towards stardom

For three or four years, the gang of friends who met at university were writing songs and doing gigs in the relative musical obscurity of the West Country. But now, Meeky Rosie are set to go from an unknown indie band in Devon to international fame on the soundtrack of a movie which is already making waves in America.

Two tracks by the band have been chosen alongside artists such as Moby on the film Who Killed the Electric Car, which was previewed at the Sundance and Tribeca film festivals and goes on release in the US next week.

The film examines how the US government, oil companies and car manufacturers allegedly conspired to kill off the environmentally friendly electric car after its launch in California a decade ago.

Stephen Clayton, one of Meeky Rosie's lead vocalists, said they were "absolutely thrilled" that their music had been selected for an important film in the vein of Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11. Clayton said: "It's a bit surreal - from Devon to Hollywood. But we like to feel our songs are thought-provoking, memorable and poignant, so it was a natural choice for us to support something that we believe in."

Clayton, a classical music graduate who, like most of the band, comes from Cornwall, met Paul Knight Malciak, Ben Morgan, Tim Brain and Paul Oxenham at Plymouth University. Soon afterwards, a small independent label, Wandering Star, signed them up and they moved to Totnes in Devon, where the record company was based, to develop their music. Most of them now live near by in Exeter.

Although they did the gamut of jobs from "call centre work to anything we could get", recently they have been concentrating on recording.

Working with Max Hayes, who has previously produced Doves, Paul Weller and Primal Scream, their debut album is ready for release later this year. It was mixed at Peter Gabriel's studios in Bath. So after years of struggle, being chosen for the film has come as a timely calling card for their music, which is in the mould of Radiohead.

An EP, Nobody Gets Away, one of the songs from the film, will be released next month and they will play at the Dublin Castle in Camden, north London, on Tuesday.

The band, whose name is an accidental corruption of the title of the Vikram Seth novel An Equal Music, will also support Athlete at the surfing festival K Fest in Newquay, Cornwall, on 28 July.

Clayton admitted they were a little unclear how their music was heard by the movie-makers in Los Angeles. But it appears that film executives heard it on a website called artistlog.com. "It seems just total chance they happened upon it," Clayton, 27, said.

The band discovered they had been chosen at the end of last year. "It was a real surprise because we're stuck down in Devon and they're on the other side of the pond, but it's great. When you've been in a band for longer than a couple of years you can get used to false dawns but this is something real."

None of the band has yet seen the full film, which features Tom Hanks and Mel Gibson, but they have seen clips. It is likely to be released in the UK this summer.

"In terms of subject matter, we're very strict about what we put our music to," Clayton said. "We would turn stuff down if we thought it wasn't ethical, regardless of money."