MATT Cardle is the frontrunner in the race for Christmas number one with his debut single When We Collide.

But there are a few challengers this year. Not only is Cage Against the Machine – a re-recording of John Cage’s famously silent composition 4’33” – making its bid, but leading the way for the “protest tracks” is the Trashmen’s Surfin’ Bird. However, despite shifting 25,000 downloads, it looks like Surfin’ Bird may only make number three.

Rihanna is close on Cardle’s heels – her X Factor appearance alongside Matt, from Little Maplestead, gave her a boost in the charts this week.

Gathering momentum is a campaign to get Scot-rockers Biffy Clyro’s original song, which Matt has covered, to the top spot.

Cardle’s old band Seven Summers, may have lost their vocalist, but they could also find themselves charting, after a late bid to get one of their records into the number one slot. They’re not the only Essex lads to try to derail the expected X Factor rout.

Dennis Thompson, based in Westcliff, has recorded his own unlikely challenger and uploaded it on to Youtube.

He’s hoping his cynical stab at the festive top spot will gain support, you can see the video to his song I Hate my Job at echo-news. co.uk/video

In demand after raging success last year

LAST year they launched one of the biggest campaigns in download history, propelling Rage Against the Machine’s Killing in the Name to the Christmas number one spot.

Since then South Woodham Ferrers couple Jon and Tracy Morter, have found their golden touch in constant demand, with one person who wanted their help even hiring a private investigator to find them.

“I thought ‘if you can’t Google us, you’re not going to get to number one’,” laughs Tracy, 31, who as a photographer has her own website for people to contact her on. She was even invited to the recording studio to take part in Cage Against the Machine, but, despite the couple’s sudden celebrity status, Tracy couldn’t find a babysitter so didn’t go.

She’s lent her support to the song and its number one bid, but says she’s glad they haven’t asked for her and Jon’s help, after being inundated by requests following their success last year. The extra publicity has meant some fun for the pair, however. Tracy found herself shooting pictures of Rik Mayall after he needed help promoting his World Cup single.

Tracy says the surge of copy-cat campaigns this year may weaken the bid for an alternative number one to X Factor winner Matt Cardle. She says: “There’s lots this year. It’s divided, so I don’t know how it’s going to work.

“Cage Against the Machine was one of my favourites from the beginning. It would be quite funny for the X Factor single to be beaten by silence.”

Tracy adds she and Jon never expected their campaign to gain the momentum it did. Despite Simon Cowell’s prostestations at the time, she says the high-profile campaign upped the competition and made sure more people bought Joe McElderry’s single as well.

She says: “He texted to say happy Christmas and happy new year and that was lovely.

“He doesn’t care, he probably got more sales through it anyway. He doesn’t care about the music – he did Mr Blobby.”

She adds: “What happened to Joe McElderry this year is exactly what we didn’t like about X Factor, he charted this week at number 68 and most people didn’t even know he had a single out. Simon’s got a new one now.”

Pip joins machine’s bid to beat X Factor

HE once released a cheeky video poking fun at the X Factor and now Scroobius Pip has lent his talents to a collaboration to try to stop fellow Essex boy Matt Cardle making Christmas number one.

Stanford-le-Hope lad David Mead, better known as Scroobius Pip, took part in a re-recording of composer John Cage’s silent composition 4’ 33”.

The single features a host of celebrities and musicians sitting silently in a room as a tongue-in-cheek protest against Simon Cowell’s domination of the Christmas charts.

It follows last year’s successful campaign by South Woodham Ferrers couple John and Tracy Morter to get Rage Against the Machine to number one over Joe McElderry.

But David explains he doesn’t have an issue with X Factor: “It’s a TV show, it’s an entertainment show – I don’t mean that as an insult – but it’s nothing to do with the music.

“If Lady Gaga had gone on X Factor, she’d probably have been one of the joke contestants, who everyone’s laughing at, but outside the show, she’s huge.”

Cage Against the Machine was started as a joke, but if it does make the Christmas number one spot, radio stations across the country could be faced with a genuine silent night.

“At first I thought ‘that’s just quite amusing’,” David says.

“I looked into it more and it’s kind of interesting. Then I saw the people involved – Billy Bragg, Orbital, Imogen Heap and lots more. There’s lots of really good people.”

He adds that one of the most interesting things about recording the silent track was watching the celebrities contain their natural urge to perform.

He explains: “It was interesting to see a lot of people, big names like the Kooks, who are used to being the centre of attention, deal with just being quiet for four minutes and 33 seconds.

“It’s a difficult thing because it is written as a serious piece, but a lot of people are just going to be amused by the idea of silence potentially beating the X Factor.”

Other stars who turned up at Dean Street Studios to record the track include Suggs, Venus in Furs, Guillemots and Does It Offend You, Yeah?

David says he’s not out to have a pop at Simon Cowell and co, although fans may be forgiven for thinking otherwise. Hip-hop duo dan le sac vs Scroobius Pip once promoted a single with a tongue-in-cheek video that saw them apparently attempt to impress the famous X Factor judging panel with a profanity-ridden rendition of It Ain’t No Fun by Snoop Dogg, featuring Warren G, Nate Dogg and Kurupt.

The spoof saw the pair roundly rejected by Sharon Osborne, Louis Walsh and Cowell before being shown the door.

David says: “It’s amusing because people think it’s an actual audition. We weren’t actually on X Factor, it’s all in jest and good fun.

“It was completely set up. It was just making a point that X Factor wasn’t really about the music, it’s about the show.”

He adds he’s not trying to deliberately scupper the chances of X Factor winner Matt Cardle.

David says: “Last year Simon Cowell was saying ‘it’s not fair to ruin their career by not getting the Christmas number one’, but it isn’t ruining your career. Most great bands in history haven’t had a Christmas number one and most Christmas number ones aren’t by great bands.

“It’s not as if not getting to number one will ruin that Matt lad’s career. All the best to him.”

The single is raising money for several charities including Campaign Against Living Miserably, which focuses on addressing suicide in young men. Other charities include the British Tinnitus Association, Nordoff Robbins Music Therapy, Youth Music and Sound and Music.

To find out more about Cage Against the Machine visit: www.facebook. com/cageagainstthemachine