Kirkham guitarist who played first gig at The Ferret wins Mercury Prize with English Teacher

English Teacher Pic: Instagram @englishteacherband — English Teacher with Lewis pictured second from left Pic: Instagram @englishteacherband

A musician from Kirkham is a Mercury Prize winner.

Lewis Whiting is the guitarist in English Teacher, who won the prestigious award on Thursday (5 September) for their debut album, This Could Be Texas.

English Teacher were announced as the winners just as Jo Whiley came off air from her Radio 2 live broadcast at The Ferret – the venue where Lewis played his first-ever gig.

During the BBC Radio 2 in the Park warm-up show, Jo – who revealed she has a ‘soft spot’ for English Teacher – played a pre-recorded message from Lewis.

In the message, Lewis said: “I went to college in Preston, spent most of my years growing up there. In 2016 I moved to Leeds and I’ve been there on and off ever since, but I do miss it. I try to go back to my mum’s when I can.

“The Ferret are the first gigs that I did, open mic nights and things like that… The first gig I ever did where I was in a band where we were playing original songs was at The Ferret. We changed our name every two minutes but I think… I think we were called Geros. At one point we were called Water House, I think… terrible name!”

Lewis continued: “We practised in my mate’s garage in Penwortham and we had a couple of songs together. Then we did the open mic night and we didn’t realise – because we’d never done gigs before – we didn’t realise what we had to bring, so I think we went there, dropped off some stuff and then we realised we needed loads more back line things. So I remember we were back and forth on the bus with cymbals and all sorts of stuff. I think because we were under 18 as well, we had a really limited time to play, I think we had to cut the set short because they were literally like you can’t be in here past 9 or 10.

“We played at The Ferret again in 2023 for Independent Venue Week. It was quite surreal because it was like a proper hometown gig, filled out with a load of my schoolmates, and it was one of those really like circle life moments being stood on that stage doing what I’m doing now. It was really special, it was a really special night.”

English Teacher play The Ferret for Independent Venue Week 2023 Pic: Ste Whiley

Talking about why grassroots music venues are key for up-and-coming talent, Lewis said: “That’s part of my experience growing up in Preston. The Ferret was there, but a lot of the time you had to go to Manchester for a lot of things. I love Manchester, but it’s really important to have that space, like where you live to kind of explore maybe being in a band or just discovering new music because there’s a lot of places where it can be like a complete cultural desert. And it’s not really fair that it gets concentrated in the same places, not others.

“I know for a fact I wouldn’t be doing this without seeing certain bands in my teenage years that made me realise ‘oh I could do that’. Without those spaces to play those really terrible first gigs you don’t get people doing better stuff further along the line.”

On their Mercury Prize nomination (ahead of hearing the result), he said: “We’re nominated for the Mercury Prize tonight. It feels completely surreal, it really is an honour. I never thought I would ever end up in this situation, it’s amazing to be alongside so many great albums. Yeah, I don’t think it’ll really sink in until I’m sat there, really, I think… and maybe then it won’t!”

For more on the band, follow @englishteacherband on Instagram.

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