The Aftermath buy John Lennon's microphone

Johnny and Mick Cronin of Mullingar-based rockers The Aftermath have added a quite impressive piece of memorabilia to their collection following their purchase of the microphone used by John Lennon to record 'Imagine'.

The iconic mic is safely stored at their newly opened recording studios in Drumlish, County Longford. Lennon had installed the microphone in his Georgian manor estate Tittenhurst Park near Ascot in 1970, and the location went on to become the recording venue for the Plastic Ono Band and Imagine albums. It is believed Yoko Ono, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr, who sold the mic, also used it during recording sessions.

"It's like the Holy Grail to us, we can't believe we actually have it," said Mick. "We had it sent away to Germany to have it checked out and make sure it still works because it hasn't been switched on since 1971. We didn't want to damage it, we're looking forward to the day we can sing into it," he continued.

"It's cool that we have a little piece of history. I mean Phil Spector would have had his hands on it - I know he was a nutter and everything but he did record an awful lot of great songs," laughs Mick.

He went on to tell how he and Johnny started bidding on the recording equipment specialist's MJQ Ltd's website, firstly as a bit of fun, and did not expect to bag the microphone.

"Obviously we had a limit of money in mind, but we certainly didn't expect that we'd actually get to purchase it. We were sure Liam Gallagher or someone would have come in with a huge bid, I mean where was he that day?!" he jokes.

Meanwhile, The Aftermath have continued their hard graft by recording a cover of Frankie Goes To Hollywood's famous hit 'The Power Of Love'. The teaser for their next album (due out in 2012) features seminal Liverpool Ska/Punk band The Dead 60s on backing vocals and is a welcome antidote from the usual X-Factor bid for the Christmas No. 1 spot. Check it out below!