Friends' spoof video proves YouTube hit

A group of Church Stretton friends has created an internet phenomenon after filming a spoof "gangsta" rap video in the town.

The friends formed Braincell Harmonics for the one-off video project and created a song called We Make Hay that has since taken YouTube by storm. The video has been watched by more than 11,000 people and more and more viewers are logging on each day to see it.

• For more on Jake and his video, click here

Jake Buchanan, the former Salford University video technology student behind the project, said: "It's been phenomenal.

"We just made it and hoped people would like it. We didn't expect the reaction. I had the idea for a couple of years and wanted to do something with it.

"When I came back from university, the time was right so I called up my friends to see if they were up for it."

Mr Buchanan said Briancell Harmonics was not a band and had only formed for the one-off project.

He said: "I make music under my own name and have done for years. I wanted to do something different. I wanted to do something quite funny, a spoof.

"We just wanted to have a bit of a laugh. The video is getting more hits now than it has been for the last few months."

The video features John and Will Betts, David and Michael Eagan, Harry Finch and Simon Jones singing about Church Stretton.

Scenes were shot on the Long Mynd, at a farm, near to Church Stretton tearoom and at other local spots.

Mr Buchanan added: "The video led to a gig with Goldie Lookin' Chain and I also found work at The Hive, in Shrewsbury, helping youngsters on video projects.

"We're not planning to film another video. We feel that we've created something that people like and we're going to leave it at that. We're very pleased with the response."

An audience of 11,000 people would fill Birmingham's LG Arena and, if released via iTunes, guarantee Braincell Harmonics a top 10 UK chart hit.

By Andy Richardson