The four-piece, who come from the little village of Downpatrick in Northern Ireland, have spent 2009 touring the globe with Aussie rock legends AC/DC.

And there's 20,000 more to go before they take a well-earned rest, as they begin their biggest-ever headline tour today (Nov 25).

It includes a date at the O2 Academy in Newcastle on Saturday (Nov 28), and tickets, priced £13, are still available from (08444) 772000.

It's been a phenomenal year for the band, whose classic rock sound has won them fans such as Def Leppard singer Joe Elliott and former Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page.

They release their new single, Comfort Zone, on December 14.

The rousing ballad has been a crowd favourite everywhere they've been, and a live version shot at SXSW '08 has been on high rotation on Direct TV US for over a year.

The new version has been completely remixed by renowned radio mixer Cenzo Townsend (U2/Snow Patrol/Florence & The Machine), and is backed by new and unreleased recordings.

"It's been a fantastic experience playing to huge AC/DC audiences, and we can't wait to hit the road again to do our own headline shows," said guitarist Paul Mahon.

"We've been very fortunate to meet the likes of Alice Cooper and Green Day along the way, and it's great to know that they are new fans!"

The Answer released their critically-acclaimed second album Everyday Demons earlier this year, and it made No 25 in the UK charts.

They went down a storm at the Download festival in the summer, had an exclusive iTunes single of the week downloaded more than 280,000 times in the US, and appeared on the covers of Kerrang! and Total Guitar magazines.

Mahon, Cormac Neeson (vocals), Micky Waters (bass) and James Heatley (drums) have also been touted Stateside by the likes of Rolling Stone and Billboard Magazine.

You might think life can't get any better for The Answer – but they could just prove you wrong.