THE controversial Tillegra Dam project may have been relegated to the scrap heap, but Newcastle band The Tillegra Damned is going global. The Tillegra Damned won the Australasian final of the Global Battle Of The Bands in Sydney on Thursday night.

Now the six-piece will compete for the $100,000 prize at the world final in Kuala Lumpur in February.

The band played its first gig at Newcastle’s Great Northern Hotel in July. ‘‘We were looking for a name, and we went for a drive and saw the ‘Stop Tillegra Dam’ signs around town,’’ drummer Matt Thornton said. ‘‘We thought it would be free advertising.’’

The Tillegra Damned follows in the footsteps of fellow Hunter band Powerage, who competed in the competition’s world final in London in 2008. ‘‘They came second, but we’re hoping for first,’’ Thornton said. ‘‘The best part about it all is that people in the industry are coming up and saying they like our songs, or that they think we play really well.’’