Sound the sirens, the Klaxons have won the 2007 Nationwide Mercury Music Prize for their debut album, Myths of the Near Future.

Klaxons

The fledgling quartet nabbed both the coveted prize and the £20,000 ($42,250) cash award that comes along with it. They beat out the likes of 2006 Mercury winners the Arctic Monkeys, as well as Amy Winehouse, who appeared at the event and performed for the first time since her reported rehab stint and tour cancellations.

The band accepted the award for best British or Irish album from show host Jools Holland.

"This really is too much, it just means so much to us," they said while accepting the award. "A year ago today we were in the studio recording this album and we were watching the Arctic Monkeys step up and thinking we've got to make a great album."

Bat for Lashes, Jamie T, Maps, Fionn Regan, The View, New Young Pony Club, the Young Knives, Basquiat Strings, and Dizzee Rascal were also nominated.

The award is sponsored by Nationwide Building Society, the UK's biggest customer-owned lender. The judges chose from a shortlist of 12 before today's ceremony at London's Grosvenor House Hotel.

Winehouse's appearance surprised many, as the embattled singer has been hounded by news reports of a drug overdose, subsequent rehab stint, and infighting within her family about how to address the matter. She was believed to have flown in for the event straight from a holiday in St. Lucia.

Winehouse performed an acoustic version of the song "Love is a Losing Game," from her Mercury-nominated album, Back to Black.