1994 - 1997

Phatfish was formed under the name 'Purple Phatfish' by Dave Fellingham in Brighton UK 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 & 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 follow ing 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 etc. During this period they made a couple of recordings which sold well at gigs and by mail order. These have recently been remastered and repackaged under the title 'An Audience with God'.

1997 - 2000

In early 1997, Phatfish spent time praying and felt that it was time that they wrote some songs which were more worship-orientated and explicitly Christian in content. This led to the production of the album 'We Know the Story' which embraced many different musical styles, but was lyrically a worship album. It was made in their own studio and took almost six months working solidly to complete. The album was licensed to record label 'Survivor' (part of 'Kingsway Music') who have a high profile in the UK worship music scene. Phatfish subsequently toured the album in churches around the UK and were excited to see people being drawn into God's presence.

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 was already a close friend of the band, and seemed like the ideal replacement. He 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 States. Phatfish subsequently signed with Pamplin and in Spring 1999 'Purple Through the Fishtank' was recorded with them in Nashville, where much of the Christian music scene is based. 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 States and Europe.

2000 - 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, Phatfish were ready to record again. New songs were written, still with a worship focus, and the album 'Heavenbound' was born. Recorded in the UK, the album has a recurring theme of Heaven and our future with God. With Pamplin no longer involved, the band worked with Word UK (now 'Authentic Media') and their new 'Focus' label. '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.

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 and video were recorded at the gigs and released in spring 2002. Special guests Stuart Townend, Kate Simmonds and Brian Houston joined Phatfish at the gigs and brought an extra dimension to the events. The album and video are called 'Hope' (Authentic Media), and both capture the wonderful atmosphere that there was at the concerts.

2001 - 2002

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!

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 sensational album is called 'Nothing But the Truth' (Authentic Media) and was released in May 2003. During May and June, Phatfish again went on the road with The Truth Tour(2); this time to Eastern Canada and cities across the UK. A busy summer followed with gigs and worship leading dates at Spring Harvest, New Wine, Soul Survivor and Festival Manchester among others.

2002 - 2003

Late in 2002, Alan Rose (guitarist) informed the rest of the band that he felt God was calling him to move on from the band, and that he would leave in September 2003. So it was with some sadness that we said goodbye to him at Festival Manchester; the last gigs together in August 03. The remaining four of 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, worship leading in a for a tour entitled 'Does the Future have a Church' with Matt Redman, and several other worship leading engagements with Stuart Townend. 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 our church in Brighton.

2004 - 2006

Towards the end of 2004, work started on a new Phatfish worship album called 'Faithful' (Authentic Media). The album draws together several of the congregational songs that the guys have written over the years and presents them with a fresh sound. The album was released before Christmas that year, and toured in the Spring and Autumn of 2005. The guys did not feel peaceful about taking on a new permanent guitarist, and used session players for the album and tours.

Later that year Nathan started putting together an album called 'Trinity' which was a response to a book he'd read about the need for worship songs which have a focus on the Trinitarian nature of God. He chose mostly pre-existing worship songs which have this triune focus and worked with Phatfish on fresh new arrangements for some of them while using the original artist's versions of others. The result is a multi-artist compilation of amazingly rich material.

Meanwhile, Lou was spreading her wings and went to LA to work on her first solo project. She co-wrote with Nathan and producer Busbee, and the resulting brilliant 'Treasure' album has been a hit. She was keen to point out that her solo work did not in any way signal the end of her involvement with Phatfish. In fact, when she subsequently toured the album alongside Stuart Townend (who had himself released the excellent 'Monument to Mercy' CD), careful observers would have noticed that most of the backing band were members of Phatfish.

2006 saw the release of a new DVD project called 'There is a Day' in which the band repackaged and expanded the 'Hope-Unplugged' video that had previously been released on VHS. All kinds of bonus features were added to the disk, including new music videos (check out the new version of 'There is a Day' and its video), short films used on Phatfish tours, new interview footage and a twenty minute walk through the band's history.

Also in 2006, Phatfish put out a new type of resource called 'Working as a Band' for local church worship musicians. Mike Sandeman developed seminar material that the band had used at various worship conferences over the years to communicate some basic principles and practical requirements that help less experienced musicians work together effectively. The two disk set is available in the Phatfish shop. Training up others in music to serve the local church has become a key part of the Phatfish vision.

2006 - Present

Late in 2006 the band reconvened in the studio for to start work on their first album of brand new material in four years. Working with producer Kevan Frost who had helped out on 'Heavenbound', there was a fantastic sense of new creativity and the resulting album 'Guaranteed' is a triumph of great songwriting, tight production and excellent musicianship. With a number of superb congregation-friendly worship songs as well as more performance orientated tracks, Guaranteed is proving that there's still plenty of life and creativity in the band after fourteen years together!

As well as working in contemporary music, Phatfish were also being called upon to work as a worship band from the start, both in their local church, and at national events such as Stoneleigh Bible Week and Spring Harvest. This was in conjunction with internationally recognised worship leaders Dave Fellingham, Stuart Townend and Kate Simmonds sometimes under the name 'The Stoneleigh Band'. Their working relationship continues, and Phatfish still travel with Stuart and others. They have appeared on numerous live worship albums in this capacity which are enormously popular around the world. More recently, Phatfish have been working with other high profile worship leaders such as Matt Redman and Tim Hughes at a number of international events.

The guys in Phatfish will now continue to make time to get involved in other projects, produce records for other people, and help other music ministries as well as their own. They feel they have experience and skill to help others who are on a similar path.

Phatfish are submitted to God and committed to their local church ( Church of Christ the King, Brighton UK ) where they are all active members.