Phatfish

Phatfish

Phatfish are a Christian Rock, CCM and Worship Band. They live in Brighton, England and have spent many years writing and performing their own brand of worship-oriented rock, as well as leading worship both in the UK and across the world. They have released a number of their own albums and played alongside many well-known worship leaders. They have also appeared on dozens of worship albums and on national television programmes such as BBC1's Songs of Praise. They are active members of their local church "CCK" and are frequently involved in leading worship and musical projects. Their worship songs such as Holy Holy, There Is A Day and Awake Awake O Zion are sung in churches globally and are featured on many live and studio albums. The band have appeared in worship or performance at many international events including the "Worship Together" Conference in America, and "Soul Survivor" in the UK.

History

Early Years (1994 - 1997)

The band was formed under the name 'Purple Phatfish' by Dave Fellingham in Brighton in January 1994. Dave had a vision for a Christian group that would be excellent musically and be respected by Christians and non-Christians alike. He prayed that it would have an anointing to touch peoples' lives with the power and presence of God.

The founder members were Nathan & Luke Fellingham (Dave's two sons; drums & bass), Mike Blow (guitar), Adrian Watts (percussion), Louise Hunt (she has since married Nathan and become Louise Fellingham; vocals), Michael Sandeman (keyboards) and Rachel Head (rapper).

Musically the band was initially a jazz-funk/rap outfit at a time when Acid Jazz was very popular in England. Purple Phatfish had a vision to be 'salt and light' in the secular world, and spent much of the first year performing their own songs in secular music clubs, mainly in the Brighton area where they gained a considerable following on the local music scene. Most of the early songs were not blatantly Christian in content, but tackled contemporary issues with a Christian perspective. Rapper Rachel Head left the band at the end of 1994, and 'Purple Phatfish' became 'Phatfish'.

In the following few years Phatfish gigged further afield, playing regularly in top London music clubs and in universities around the country. They were also in demand with churches all over the UK who would book them to play at youth events and outreaches. During this period they made a number of recordings which have recently been remastered and repackaged under the title An Audience with God.

In 1997 the band decided to work on some more explicitly worship-orientated songs, and released their first full album We Know the Story.

Purple Through The Fishtank & An Audience With God (1998 - 2000)

In the summer of 1998, guitarist Mike Blow and percussionist Adrian Watts felt that it was time to move on, and left Phatfish. Guitarist Alan Rose – who had been working with worship leader Paul Oakley – joined, and the band started song writing again. Phatfish moved further away from the jazz-funk sound, and the new songs had a rockier edge. Demos were made with producer Alan Shacklock, and he was able to catch the attention of record company Pamplin Music in the US. Phatfish subsequently signed with Pamplin and in spring 1999 Purple Through the Fishtank was recorded with them in Nashville. The album had a broad appeal and increased the profile of the band both in the UK and abroad; Phatfish started regularly travelling in Canada, the US and Europe. In 2000, Phatfish released an album containing some of their older music, titled An Audience With God.

Heavenbound (2001)

By the beginning of 2001 after a busy year of touring and seeing lots of people having great encounters with God in their concerts, the album Heavenbound was born. Recorded in the UK, the album has a recurring theme of Heaven and man's future with God. With Pamplin no longer involved, the band worked with Word UK (now Authentic Media). Heavenbound has been a best seller and received rave reviews. Phatfish had a busy schedule in Autumn 2001, gigging with Heavenbound all over the UK, as well as at events in Canada.

Hope - Unplugged Live (2002)

In the summer of 2001 they had done an impromptu 'unplugged' gig with minimal equipment on a side stage at Stoneleigh Bible Week. It went amazingly well and it was decided that three unplugged gigs would take place in January 2002 in different parts of the country to raise money for AIDS orphans in Africa through an organization called Hope HIV. The concerts were all sold out and were a great success, raising £9,500 for Hope HIV. A live album (Hope) was recorded at the gigs and released in spring 2002. Special guests Stuart Townend, Kate Simmonds and Brian Houston joined Phatfish at the gigs. The 2006 DVD release There is a Day includes the Brighton unplugged gig.

The Truth Tour & Nothing But The Truth (2002 - 2003)

In November 2002, the band embarked on The Truth Tour, a series of concerts around the UK using specially-written new songs with the theme of living by God's truth. This was a much bigger multi-media style production than they had used before; the gigs were in larger venues with thousands attending and meeting with God as well as enjoying the rocking live show. The band were supported by Cathy Burton on most nights, with events taking place all over the country and the tour is Phatfish's biggest to date.

As soon as the tour was over the band retreated into the studio to record the songs which had been used on the tour. The resulting album is called Nothing But the Truth and was released in May 2003, to more fantastic reviews. The band continued touring and playing at festivals through that summer and autumn.

It was with some sadness that the rest of the group said goodbye to Alan Rose in August 2003. The remaining four members took some time out and spent a year or so concentrating on other non-Phatfish projects. Apart from a couple of summer festival gigs, there were some BBC Songs of Praise appearances and worship leading engagements with Matt Redman, Stuart Townend, Martyn Layzell and others. Nathan and Luke produced an album for Kingsway’s Survivor label called Soul Sista. The three guys also worked on music for a dance production based at their church in Brighton.

Faithful (2004 - 2005)

In 2004, Phatfish released an album called Faithful - The Worship Songs which featured fresh studio arrangements of many of their more 'congregational' worship songs. The band also appeared at the first Newday and Together On A Mission conferences run by Newfrontiers. Following on from the Stoneleigh Bible Weeks and recent Soul Survivor appearances, the band worked with Matt Redman at Newday, an event for youth aged 12-19, and with Stuart Townend, Kate Simmonds and Evan Rogers at Together On A Mission (with Mobilise). Phatfish performed at a special one-off gig at Newday; due to bad weather previous gigs by other bands had been cancelled. The event was moved into the main hall, where the daily meetings were held, and songs from the Truth Tour were played due to the album release of Faithful being after the summer event of Newday. A live version of Stepping Out, recorded at the concert, appeared on the Newday 2004 album.

In 2005, Phatfish embarked on "The Faithful Tour" which took them across England and Scotland, supported by guitarist Dan Wheeler. The band also appeared on GOD TV performing "The Cross", a version which later appeared on the 2006 DVD release "There Is A Day".

Trinity, Treasure, Working As a Band & There Is A Day (2006)

Drummer Nathan Fellingham was the driving force behind the album Trinity, released 2006. It is a compilation of tracks from many artists including Phatfish; the songs focusing on the Trinitarian nature of God.

In late 2005, band member Lou Fellingham recorded her debut solo album Treasure, which was released in January 2006. The band appeared several more times on the BBC's Songs of Praise. They also supported lead singer Lou and friend Stuart Townend on a Stu + Lou tour taking them to various locations around the UK.

At the end of 2006 a Phatfish resource CD called Working as a band was released. It gives practical teaching and advice for local church worship musicians, and explains some of the basics of making a cohesive band sound that will work in a church setting.

There Is A Day - The Video Collection was also released at the end of 2006, incorporating music videos, an unplugged concert and interview footage, with wordsmith Andy Back. The video content was created by Quirky Motion and Fruit Media.

Guaranteed (2007 – present)

File:Phatfish and Lou Fellingham live.jpg

Phatfish performing at New Word Alive in April 2008

Main article: Guaranteed

Since Alan Rose's departure, there have been rumours that Phatfish had disbanded. In 2006 Nathan Fellingham started the Phatfish MySpace, to reassure fans that Phatfish were still an active band, even though they were making fewer public appearances.

In July 2007 Phatfish released Guaranteed, the first to contain all-new material since 2003. Receiving positive reviews and high sales at Christian events, the album contains ten songs described as having "intricate but driving, compulsive rhythms". The release of the album was followed up with a series of gigs titled Phatfish and Lou Fellingham and a TV appearance on Premier TV. Phatfish also led worship at international conferences in England, Scotland and Wales. The band were runners up at the Christian Web and Blog Awards, attended by the Bishop of London, in the "Most Original Worship Blog/Website" category. They came second to Tim Hughes' and Al Gordon's win for their website worshipcentral.org.

In early 2008, the band performed two more Phatfish and Lou Fellingham concerts in connection with Hope 08. The first event was in Brighton, as part of "Soul By The Sea"; the second in Gloucester on March 14. Lou Fellingham led worship at the Kingsway's Children's Ministry conference in January, and the band gigged and led worship at New Word Alive in Wales alongside Stuart Townend.

Lead singer Lou Fellingham is due to release her second solo album, Promised Land in May 2008, and an exclusive launch night at the Clarendon Centre has been planned with only 150 tickets where Lou and Phatfish will play songs and talk about the inspiration behind them. Michael Sandeman, keyboardist, will be releasing his instrumental album "Worship Reflections" in late May as well.

Phatfish will be working with other worship leaders such as Simon Brading, Evan Rogers, Kate Simmonds and Stuart Townend for live worship engagements at conferences such as Newday, Together On A Mission, Mission:Worship and Keswick Convention later this year.

In an interview recorded at New Word Alive in 2008, drummer Nathan Fellingham explained he would be starting up Fishtank Creatives, influenced by the name of the band and their 1999 studio album Purple Through The Fishtank. This will be a company to draw all the works of Phatfish, and it's individual members, together in one place as a cohesive resource.

Musical style

Phatfish has always comprised of a drummer, keyboardist, bassist and lead vocalist with backing singing from various members of the band. Until 2003, there was an electric guitarist present, and in recent years that place has been filled by guest musicians, namely Dan Wheeler, Alan Rose or Martin Cooper. The band's general musical style consequently consists of rock/pop worship sound, utilising the keyboards and guitars and upfront vocals of lead singer Lou Fellingham. The band plays fairly tight in a live setting, accompanied by backing tracks in concert or additional musicians in live worship, often alongside other worship leaders. Phatfish use programming in both a worship, concert or studio setting, often organised by Michael Sandeman. Lou Fellingham sometimes harmonises whilst leading worship, attempting to lift certain parts of the songs such as in "There Is A Day", taking up the word's "Air" and "Yeah" into a higher key.

Phatfish's studio albums however vary from one to another, depending on the producer and members of the band at the time of recording. Purple Through The Fishtank has an acoustic driven sound; it was recorded in Nashville, whilst Heavenbound makes more use of electric guitars in a heavy rock manner, accompanied by vocals described by Cross Rhythms magazine as "soaring". Nothing But The Truth is pop rock, with a slightly jazz feel toward the latter part of the album, pointing to the band's earlier acid jazz days with We Know The Story. It was produced solely by Nathan Fellingham, and the electronic sound that fairs popular with his productive style is noticeable. On Faithful - The Worship Songs, Alan Rose is no longer with the band and producer Julian Kindred, who worked on Delirious?' World Service album, brought forward the keys and synthesisers more, similar to Phatfish's live worship where the keyboards are noticeably prominent. Phatfish have recently honed a more worship orientated sound on their latest studio albums Trinity and Guaranteed; the latter focusing on Luke Fellingham's driving bass, with the addition of strings and hammonds to give the album "brooding soundscapes". The band pull all the different styles they have worked through over the years together in their live settings, changing renditions and compositions and sounds to suit the song better than it would as if it was the same as in the studio version. For example, the live version of "Pouring Out", featured on Newfrontier's 2007 album Amazing God, is sung in a higher key by Lou Fellingham than on the studio rendition. This is also the same with "Amazing God", from Mission:Worship's A New Day Of Worship.

Touring

Phatfish have toured Europe, USA and Canada extensively. Their biggest tour was the Truth Tour in 2002 and 2003, taking them all over the United Kingdom, supported by Cathy Burton. The Faithful Tour took place in 2005, with Dan Wheeler supporting and large attendance for the band. More recently, concerts have been titled Phatfish and Lou Fellingham, with songs from Lou Fellingham's debut album Treasure and Phatfish's recent Guaranteed being played as well as older songs. As well as organising their own tours, Phatfish regularly perform in one-off appearances at different events around the world. The largest so far has been Festival:Manchester in 2003, where 50,000 delegates attended the week, and other notable concerts have been performed at Stoneleigh Bible Week in the 90s and early 00s, at Newday, Soul Survivor, events organised by radio and magazine Cross Rhythms and other Christian organisations like Newfrontiers, Keswick Ministries, New Word Alive, Spring Harvest and Souled Out, and conferences overseas such as Worship Together. Moreover, the band will often do worship seminars or teaching at various events or Churches throughout the world, or will lead worship by themselves or with another worship leader at a conference or festival by day, and perform on an evening.

Songwriting

Mike Rimmer of Cross Rhythms noted in his review of Faithful - The Worship Songs that the "influence of the Phatfish guys on the British worship scene should not be underestimated. Whether as songwriters or as part of the Stoneleigh worship band, they have played a major part in the last 10 years." Phatfish have contributed many worship songs into the modern Church, nationally in Britain and internationally around the world.

Nathan Fellingham is the principal worship songwriter of the band, his works including Holy Holy, There Is A Day, Awake Awake O Zion, Jesus Christ Holy One, Amazing God, To You King Jesus, and O God Of Love; written with wife Lou. Michael Sandeman has also contributed with his compositions The Cross, Jesus Loves The Church and Here Is The Risen Son. Before his departure in 2003 (though he regularly makes guest appearances with the band), Alan Rose wrote hits such as Heavenbound and Oh Our Lord and King. Despite calling herself a "new to songwriting" in 2006 on Phatfish's There Is A Day - The Video Collection, Lou Fellingham is rapidly increasing her contribution to songwriting in the band, especially with the release of her debut album Treasure and second album Promised Land. Her compositions You Give Rest To The Weary (I Will Say), Sing To The Lord, Amazing Love and Build This House are growing in popularity.

The band are also known for their potent contemporary songs, not necessarily designed to be used in a congregational setting. Some are written to be used in performance for concerts or for personal pastoral use, or written to tackle issues of the modern world. These include Stepping Out, Rise Up, What Would I Do?, This Year, Best Thing, Annoy and Lou Fellingham's God Of Mercy (Prayer Song).

Nathan Fellingham's Holy Holy is described by himself in an audio interview at New Word Alive as being their most popular tune that has "travelled furtherst around the world". It also featured on Tim Hughes' When Silence Falls and The Livingstone Collective's Portrait Of Worship. The band's songs feature on many compilation, live, studio and instrumental albums that are available internationally, with non-Phatfish versions of songs such as There Is A Day, Amazing God, and Awake Awake O Zion being available on iTunes.

The band's most critically acclaimed song is There Is A Day. Featuring on dozens of live worship albums, and three Phatfish releases, the song talks about the day of "Jesus' return", and it's potent theological content is a talking point for many Christian musical lovers and reviewers.

Worship leading

Since their formation, and even before, Phatfish have been called upon as a worship band to lead and assist others at conferences and their local church CCK. Their largest crowds were at the Stoneleigh Bible Week, where in its final year of 2001 it had a record 26,000 delegates in attendance. More recently, the band regularly lead worship alongside high profile worship leaders like Matt Redman, Kate Simmonds and Stuart Townend at Newfrontiers organised conferences Together On A Mission and Newday, where crowds of up to 6,000 are gathered. They have also appeared at events such as Spring Harvest, Soul Survivor, Keswick Convention, Cheltenham Bible Week, Mission:Worship, Festival Manchester, New Word Alive and Worship Together in America and Canada. Lou Fellingham either leads herself or is a backing vocalist to the main worshipper, often harmonising or using her voice as an instrument rather than just singing the melody. The technical skill of Phatfish in a live setting is why they are regularly called on to lead worship. In addition, they offer practical advice about Christian music and leading worship on their recently released Working As A Band double-disc CD. They teach this material at worship seminars and one-day events, as well as the annual Mission:Worship conference in Eastbourne.

The band often appear on BBC1's Songs of Praise, leading worship or performing worship songs. Stuart Townend has been present at some of the recordings, although Lou Fellingham performed his In Christ Alone in 2005 when it featured in the "10 most popular hymns in Britain" list.

The band have featured on three albums which have won the coveted CBC Praise & Worship Album of the year award; two Stoneleigh albums Ruach and Beautiful Saviour, and Stuart Townend's Best Of Stuart Townend Live.

Origin of band name

The band was originally called "Purple Phatfish", a name that came from a small purple keyring featuring a little fat fish that blew air out of its mouth when you squeezed it. The keyring was given as a present by Nathan's sister-in-law and she suggested that Purple Fat Fish would be a good name for a band. A picture of the fish may be seen on the 'What's in a name?' page on the band's website.

Discography

Note: This is a list of actual Phatfish recordings and does not include the numerous other worship albums on which they have played.

• 1994 Purple Phatfish (three song demo, cassette only)
• 1995 River of Life (cassette only)
• 1996 Neworldisorder (six song EP)
• 1997 We Know the Story
• 1999 Purple Through the Fishtank
• 2000 An Audience with God (compilation with some re-recorded material)
• 2001 Heavenbound
• 2002 Hope - Unplugged Live
• 2003 Nothing But The Truth
• 2004 Faithful - The Worship Songs
• 2006 Trinity (compilation with other artists)
• 2006 Working As A Band (Music resource for Church musicians)
• 2006 There Is A Day - The Video Collection (DVD)
• 2007 Guaranteed

Other albums/discography Phatfish have featured in

Note: This is a list of recordings in which the band have appeared in. These are not actual Phatfish releases. It is not a comprehensive list.

• 1994 Ruach - Stoneleigh album
• 1995 Day Of Favour - "
• 1996 My First Love - "
• 1997 Loves Compelling Power
• 1998 Beautiful Saviour - "
• 1999 Covenant Of Grace - "
• 2000 Chosen From The Nations
• 2000 Praise Mix 2000 - Recorded at Christian event Spring Harvest
• 2000 Revive '00 - Dare To Believe - Stoneleigh youth event
• 2001 The Fathers Embrace
• 2001 Revive - Joy - Stoneleigh youth events
• 2001 In Christ Alone - Recorded at CCK, Brighton
• 2001 Revive '01 - Dreams and Visions - Stoneleigh youth event
• 2002 Newfrontiers - Live 2002 - Recorded at CCK, Brighton
• 2002 Soul Survivor Live 2002 - Glimpses Of Glory
• 2003 Does The Future Have A Church - A compilation of worship songs from previous albums *
• 2004 Newday 2004 - Recorded at Newfrontiers youth event
• 2004 The Passion Of God's Son - Recorded at Newfrontiers event 'Leadership '04
• 2005 Newday - You Reign - Recorded at Newfrontiers youth event '05 (backing for Matt Redman)
• 2005 The Power Of The Cross - Recorded at Newfrontiers event 'Leadership '05
• 2006 Treasure - Lou Fellingham's debut album
• 2006 Praise Is Rising - Recorded at Newfrontiers event 'Leadership '06
• 2006 Newday - Shout From The Roof - Recorded at Newfrontiers youth event '06 (backing band for Siyoli Lusaseni)

See Lou Fellingham article for more Phatfish contributions

References

• Phatfish – artist profile at Cross Rhythms
• Church of Christ the King, Brighton, worship team profile on Phatfish
• Word on the Web (Church Army) – Interview with Nathan Fellingham (Dec 2004)
• Wesley Owen – interview (Feb 2005)

External links

• Official Phatfish website
• Template:Myspace
• Video on YouTube
• Lou Fellingham Official website
• Interview with Phatfish at Premier.tv
• STREETBRAND Magazine Interview