Whether you’re a new starter, or old timer at AMS Gateshead, why not take some time to get to know our incredible staff and tutors. These guys work tirelessly to provide a diverse, dynamic, and exciting music curriculum. Many of them were also previous AMS students and enjoyed it so much, they decided to stay! Find out more in the bios below.
LUKE ELGIE
Luke Elgie is a Gateshead based Bass Player/producer who has had multiple plays on BBC Radio 1, BBC 6 Music and BBC Radio 2. With his main musical projects, SHIELDS and Penguin, he has toured The UK and Europe and played Glastonbury festival, Reading and Leeds Festival, BBC 6 Music Festival, Hyde Park Calling Festival and Melt Festival, to name a but a few.
His music has also been used by the likes of BT Sport, British Airways, Ubisoft, Asos and Wateraid. As well as continuing to work on multiple studio projects Luke is a session bassist for Callum Pitt and Cattle and Cane and also performs regularly in multiple function bands.
JAKE FLETCHER
Jake is a songwriter and producer working out of Mono Studios in Newcastle and Gateshead. Signing with Soul Kitchen Music Management in 2015, he has previously worked on writing sessions with Ivor Novello Award nominee Iain Archer amongst others. Resulting in airplay on Radio 1 as ‘BBC Introducing Track Of The Week’, he has also supported prominent artists such as Jake Bugg, Primal Scream, Sundara Karma and Sunset Sons around the UK.
As a member of the electronic genre bending duo Drive, his recent work is inspired by the films of John Hughes, analog and the mediums of 80’s nostalgia; Super8, Polaroids, VHS and Cassette Tapes. You can listen here: bit.ly/listentodrive
LISA MURPHY
With 17 years working as an educator and music producer, Lisa has designed and delivered industry-focused music technology and production courses to students all over the UK. She runs Blast Recording Studios, a professional music recording and production studio in Newcastle-upon-Tyne who’s clients include the likes of Take That, The Arctic Monkeys and Sam Fender.
Alongside teaching music production at the Academy of Music and Sound, Lisa also works as a professional music producer in the local music industry.
LILY BROOKE
Original material with a modern edge, Lily Brooke is a singer songwriter from the North East of England. Specialising in piano, vocals and songwriting, the artist has captivated audiences live and online reaching over 28k twitter followers. Her eclectic repertoire merges pop music with darker, twisted tones to create a unique alternative pop sound.
She has performed at some of the region’s biggest festivals and won competitions like the Pride of South Tyneside award; previous winners include renowned artists like Jade Thirlwall from Little Mix. More recently, Lily has headlined and supported acts at o2 Academy Newcastle and released her debut single Kaleidoscope.
Lily has shared stages with other festival headliners such as UB40, Atomic Kitten, Five, The Futureheads and DeadMau5 at the Evolution Festival to crowds of over 25,000 people.
MICKY CRYSTAL
Micky Crystal is a guitar player, producer and educator who has been teaching for AMS Gateshead for a number of years specialising in the Guitar and Theory courses. Micky has a wealth of experience not only as a teacher but also as a touring musician / artist playing all over the globe extensively. (You can read his tour CV below.) He has written and performed on major label album releases which have charted throughout the UK and Europe as well as making it to major magazine front covers. He is a part of the JamTrackCentral Artist Roster and is a Victory Amps, Elixir Strings and Bare Knuckle Pickups artist.
UK, USA, Japan, Ireland, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Czech Republic, Italy, Switzerland, Poland, Sweden, Spain, Portugal, Denmark, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Austria, Hungary, Croatia, Bulgaria, Brazil, Paraguay and Colombia.
TOM LARTHE DE LANGLADURE
Tom has been playing professionally since 2007 and has had a varied career to this date – currently he teaches at the Academy in Gateshead as the Drum Tutor and has been doing so since 2015. Tom is also Director at Yamaha Tyneside, based in Whitley Bay who provide musical tuition to people of all ages for Drums, Keyboard and Guitar and is a UK instructor for Yamaha Europe.
Tom also plays drums for a variety of bands, working as either a permanent member or as a session musician and has toured Europe and the UK extensively with his band SHIELDS. A career highlight was when SHIELDS won a slot to play Glastonbury in 2015. Tom currently plays with two function bands, operating in the North East during the busy wedding season – Phil Davids and the Good Times Band provide soul and funk covers while The Richard Sutton Band are a party band with a nod to the classic sounds of 90’s UK indie.
Starting aged eleven, Tom enjoyed his drum lessons at School but it wasn’t until he formed his first punk ska band at the tender age of fifteen that he realised this was what he wanted to do for the rest of his life. Unsure of his direction after School, he applied to do the Jazz, Popular and Commercial Music degree at Newcastle College and graduated as a Bachelor of Music three years later. The people he met on that course have become the same people that shared in all of Tom’s successes up to this point and after graduating he immediately went into drum tuition and found it to be incredibly rewarding and something he had a natural passion for.
Currently Tom is busy running his School with his partner as well as spending lots of time providing online content for his students. He’s looking forward to getting back into the fray of live music very soon as it is something very important to him. Tom is also expecting to be back in the studio later this year working for a variety of artists to help arrange their songs and bring them to life before their release.
STEVE IRELAND
Steve, Centre Manager at AMS Gateshead, is a professional bassist with over 5000 gigs and numerous recording credits to his name. He has released 5 albums and resides in the North East of England but is in his own words “100% Scottish”. Steve has a MMus in Popular Music Performance which he gained here at AMS.
Although he grew up on Rock and roll, Steve is a lover of modal jazz, Jaco Pastorius and Weather Report, John Coltrane and of course Miles Davis. Steve has played all over the globe in many different settings from touring Taiwan With Seb Roachford (Polar Bear) to playing in the Dance band on the QueenMary 2, he has been there seen it, done it and got the t-shirt to coin an expression.
His current bands include New Breed Revolution and an upcoming Jazz project with Sid White and Paul Gowland.
NICK JENNISON
Nick Jennison is a guitar player, vocalist, producer and educator, as well as a leading contributor to LickLibrary and Guitar Interactive Magazine and a PRS Guitars international artist. As a session player, Nick has played on chart-topping major label releases in the USA, Japan and the UK, as well as a number of high profile game soundtracks.
Nick has worked with AMS Gateshead for a number of years now, delivering Guitar, Vocal, Theory and Production modules. He previously studied his BA with us and passed with Honours in the First Class…. It was never in doubt!