Go Furness

The Prophets

Ste Tyson & Pete Mossop originally formed a band called 4721 Archer in 1995. They played with Ste’s sister Vicky and his old school friend Damien Roberts. The band had a variety of bass players including Scott Ellemore and Martin Dubk. They gigged around the North-West of England including some high profile gigs at Stockport University, Forum 28 and Morecambe Platform. Martin Dubka and Vicky Tyson both left the band in 1999. Ste and Pete called it a day with 4721 Archer but soon recruited Drew Horner, Scott Ellemore and Nat Whitworth and formed The Prophets.

It was decided early on that they should return to their roots with their music. The first Prophets recording session yielded a 5 track EP (which was released along with the aborted 4721 album) on CD.

The title track ‘Built to Fall’ made number one on the Southlakes Download Chart 3 times!

The Prophets have played locally to enthusiastic audiences, and have supported AIM, I Am Kloot, The Crazy World of Arthur Brown, The Wonderstuff, The Bluetones and The Fall.

The band have recorded a few albums since the first EP and have recently completed their third album “Let the End Begin”. New material is coming thick and fast with all members now contributing -which is a first! The band have also recently appeared on local radio sessions, and are currently developing an new acoustic set prior to performances with the legendary John Power and The Brian Jonestown Massacre, after which The Prophets will be returning to the studio to record tracks for a new EP /album?

The band have known each other since their school days at Dowdales and all live and work in Furness. Meet the team:

Ste Tyson – Vocals
Ste went to uni in Luton and Bristol and studied geography. Now he teaches on Walney and has been doing this for about 8 years.

Pete Mossop – Guitar
Pete works as a feature writer and sub-editor at the Evening Mail, working on the music page. As well as his journalistic writing, he also writes a lot of the songs for the band.

Martin Tyson – Bass
Martin is trying to retire, he is Ste’s Dad and is already in a couple of other bands!

Scott Ellemore – Drums
Scott is a local drumming teacher having studied at Oldham School of Music. He has also been a Psyche Nurse in his day.

Nat Whitworth – Keys / Percussion
Nat works at Wilcocks Recruitment Agency although her degree was in fine art. Nat does quite a bit of the promotion.

Since they have known each other for a long time, and have been playing together for about 13 years they function really well as a group.

They have had loads of support from Collin Williams at the Coach House Recording studios and Practice rooms at ford Park in Ulverston. They said that Colin has done more to support the young bands in the area than any other person or organisation, offering young musicians encouragement and support and a place to hang out.

They pointed out that it can be really hard to find enough places to gig in Furness and this stops a lot of young bands from getting the experience they need to develop professionally. They said that the Canteen has helped a lot, but that we still need more open mic sessions and more licensed music nights to give bands opportunities to play.

Their ambitions? To play more gigs! To do some 60s nights, earn more respect, have even more fun, know more people and become familiar faces around Furness.

Have a listen and see what you think, and if you like them, drop them a line on Myspace, and maybe they will friend you up!

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Posted by Kay Hebbourn on 6th October.