Initially the brothers lead a five piece rock band 'The Answer' featuring musicians from the North East of England.

The initial line-up of Journey South featured Andy and Carl Pemberton along with Paul Williams on keyboard, Max Justice on drums and Matt Ellis on bass.

The edition of 28 December 2005 of the Teesside Evening Gazette[2] reported that Journey South had received five recording contract offers, and had signed with the one they "wanted to work with most".

Their first week sales were also higher than X Factor winner Shayne Ward's first album[citation needed] which sold 201,000 even with the help of a single for promotion.

[citation needed] The duo decided to leave Sony BMG and X Factor creator/producer Simon Cowell on amicable terms in August 2007.