About Us
Copper
Kettle are Michael Forsyth and Mark Longster .
West Yorkshire based, they are now firmly established
on the festival scene, where they are known as performers of melody-driven
acoustic music. Their songs, written by
both Mark and Michael, will take you on a journey of the
mind, through thought provoking ballads to gentle reminders of past events
- all delivered with sensitivity and backed by gentle acoustic
guitar work. Copper Kettle have remained
faithful to their original aim of involving the audience
in their music, so be prepared to sing.
Over the last couple of years they have appeared on
main concert line-ups as
support to the likes of The Strawbs, Eric Bogle, Vin Garbutt,
Waterson/Carthy, Keith Donnelly etc.
A Brief History
Copper
Kettle were formed in 1975, when three local musicians, came together for
the first time after a request to ' do something ' at a Charity Concert in
Mirfield, West Yorkshire. The set consisted mostly of Irish Folk Songs,
From that first concert, requests to play at other venues followed, much
in the same vein as the first.
The next twenty years saw them establish themselves on the Club, Theatre
and Pub scene, with an occasional booking at a Folk Club. During this
time there were as with most bands, several
changes in the line up. Michael is the only member of the original band
still performing. In 1990 Brian Firth
joined the band to form what has now become the mainstay of Copper Kettle
today, and for the first time Copper Kettle became a duo.
It was round about this time that Brian and
Michael decided to return to their roots -
the Folk Club and Festival Scene and Michael
started to write songs seriously. Folk Club and festival bookings
came their way and considerable interest was shown In the songs.
The end result
was a book of twenty
songs published in the late 1990's. This was updated to twenty eight the
following year and currently volume two is being written. (Please see song
book page )
The first professional recording of the band is to be found on a cassette
entitled, ' A HOUSE THAT'S BUILT ON GIVING ' which was released in 1994 to
raise money for a Children's Hospice. The band
featured on four tracks including the album title track.
In 1999 The album 'Kettle's On ' was released in CD format. Eleven
original songs and one cover version made up the album which received good
reviews.
In March 2007 Mark Longster, an
established performer and songwriter joined Copper Kettle.