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| Ian Prowse |
Chester born Ian Prowse is a 'Merseyside hero', guitarist, singer-songwriter, and
frontman of 'Amsterdam'. He was previously the founder and frontman of the indie cult band
'Pele', named after the greatest footballer of Ian's early childhood and formed in Ellesmere Port, Merseyside in 1990 with keyboard player Andrew Roberts.
Raised on protest songs, influenced by the Celtic sounds that make
Liverpool so unique, and inspired by the songwriting craftsmanship of
Paul Weller, Mike Scott, Bruce Springsteen and Elvis Costello, it was no
surprise, that when the rest of Britain was swaggering along to the
baggy sound of 'The Stone Roses' at the start of the 1990's, Ian put together
a band that marched to their own beat.
The result was 'Pele', a five piece alternative rock 'n' pop band with
an infusion of Celtic sounds, and a live show that became the stuff of
legend. They released two studio albums, one live album and six singles and built up a loyal live following, but they split in 1995 due to a legal wrangle with their record label.
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| Amsterdam |
Ian went on to form 'Amsterdam' in 1999 with former 'Blow Monkeys' drummer Tony Kilner and cousin Johnny Barlow on bass guitar. They were joined by Genevieve Mort on vocals, guitar and flute and Nigel Hopkins on keyboards. The following year they won an NME competition to find the best unsigned band of 2000 and were also among the winners at the prestigious music business event 'In The City'. In January 2001 they released their first album 'Attitunes' (named by Ian McNabb) with some saying that the lads are 'the best band you haven’t heard yet'. In March of that year they appeared on an EMI compilation album 'Mersey Boys and Liverpool Girls', alongside Paul McCartney, 'Echo and The Bunnymen' and other Liverpool musicians.
Following their first ever live performance on Janice Long's BBC Radio 2 show in October 2001, in which they went down a storm, they appeared live on the BBC TV Jonathan Ross Show by invitation of Elvis Costello to promote his new album. This was followed by them opening for Elvis Costello on his world tour in Amsterdam itself and again that July at Liverpool's Kings Dock Arena in front of 4,000 people.
In 2004, following the recruitment of new bassist Paul Hagan with Johnny Barlow taking on lead guitar duties, the band managed to secure a record deal with the London-based indie label Beat Crazy Records leading the band to record their second album 'The Journey' which saw their first single, 'The Journey', hit
the UK top 40. However it was their song, 'Does This Train Stop on Merseyside?'
that cemented Ian's place in the hearts of DJ's, songwriters and music
fans alike - Radio 1 DJ John Peel was reduced to tears every time he put
it on, openly crying live on air, because of its connection with
Liverpool, the city he loved. It even made it on to John Peel's last ever 'Festive Fifty'.
Then came the album release and with it their third single, 'Takin' On The
World,' play listed on BBC Radio 2 and many other stations, and three tracks from the album were played on Janice Long's BBC Radio 2 show.
In 2005 they stole the show in front of thousands at the first ever Mathew Street Festival to include original bands.
The band announced on the 14th of June 2006 that they had parted company with the record label, Beat Crazy Records. A live album '1-2-3-4!' was released, featuring fifteen live tracks and a studio album 'Arm In Arm' was released in March 2008.
'Amsterdam' played at the Liverpool International Music Festival in 2014. In December 2020 Ian tweeted - Here's the brand new film for 'Home', the opening song on The Story Of Ian Prowse.
youtu.be/RNs4vXusWNQ
Please RT if you like it my friends
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Campaign Against Living Miserably.see also :- http://www.thefootballvoice.com/2020/03/pool-of-sound-ladytron.html
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