Radio 2 shines spotlight on Lancashire bands at the Ferret, including a Mercury Prize winner from Kirkham

As part of the festival build-up, Jo Whiley presented her Radio 2 show live on Thursday from the legendary Preston music venue, The Ferret, and showcased three local bands from BBC Introducing with each of their sets including a cover from one of the artists performing in Moor Park this weekend.

Jo and co-presenter William Wolstenholme from BBC Radio Lancashire hosted the programme in front of a small audience of Radio 2 listeners and revealed that Lancaster based band LOWES will be the show’s first ever Spotlight BBC Introducing Act, a new segment which launched on the show last night.

As well as shining a light on LOWES, the show also featured a message from another Lancashire based artist, Lewis Whiting, who was born in Kirkham and is the guitarist in English Teacher.

The band were then announced as the 2024 winners of the Mercury Prize for their debut album, This Could Be Texas, just after Jo came off air at 9pm.

Lewis grew up in Lancashire, attending St Bede's Catholic High School in Lytham and Cardinal Newman College in Preston, before studying at Leeds Conservatoire where English Teacher were formed. The band then came up via BBC Introducing West Yorkshire and Jo has been a big supporter of English Teacher since the beginning - they even played their first ever BBC Maida Vale session for her show earlier this year and the cover they performed live in the studio has now been released on streaming.

In the message recorded for Jo’s show last night however Lewis explained how his musical career all started in Lancashire, in fact the first ever gigs he played in as a band was at the Ferret!

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 mums if I can. 

“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... I think we were called Geros at one point [but then] we were called Water House… terrible name!

“We practised in my mate’s garage and we had a couple of songs together and then we did the open mic night and we didn't realise, because we’d never done gigs before, ...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!”

Reflecting on how times have changed since then, Lewis said: “We [The English Teacher] 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 all 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.That’s part of my experience growing up in Preston.”

Lewis then went on to discuss the importance of having grass music venues like the Ferret.

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He said: “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.

“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), Lewis added: “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!”

Radio 2 in the Park at Moor Park in Preston kicks off tonight with a Pre-Party (5-11pm) as presenters take to the DJ stage to spin their favourite tunes to 5000 revellers.

As well as introducing artists on the main stage and playing sets in the DJ tent, Radio 2 presenters will be broadcasting live from an on-site studio at Moor Park - which looks out onto thousands of revellers across the weekend.

Shows and sets available will be available live and on demand on BBC Sounds and BBC iPlayer across the weekend and for 30 days afterwards. 

The festival’s headline sets will also be broadcast on BBC Two with Sting at 10:15pm on Saturday and Pet Shop Boys at 10pm on Sunday.

You can see the full line-up here.