User:Timrafferty/Arthur the Stoat

Arthur the Stoat

Arthur the Stoat are a rural, psychedelic, pop band consisting of Mike Bushell (Jackal) on vocals, Tim Rafferty (Tigger) on guitar and Pete "Babes" Wilson (Fox) on drums. They formed whilst studying at Otley College in Suffolk in 1992-93. Other original members were Lucy Dickman on bass, Baby Moorhen on harmonica and dancer Timothei at live gigs.

The band starting playing together during post-pub sessions with acoustic guitar, bass and cardboard boxes for drums. The boxes soon turned into real drums, Tigger got an electric guitar and amp and the band went onto write classic songs such as Over Land Sea and Rainbows, Haven't Ya Seen Enuff ?, Slow Sad Summer, How Did It Happen and The World and His Wife. The period culminated with a mid-summer end of term gig and party at Charity Farmhouse on June 23rd 1993.

Post-Otley era the band re-located to Hampshire and lived at Stavordale on Station Road in Ropley. Here they were inspired by the old locomotive steam trains and went on to immortalise it in the song Station Hill. The band played a final chaotic 1994 gig at The Railway Inn in Winchester under the pseudonym of The Rainbow Punks. Tigger went on to form The Great Western, a wide-screen rock band, based in Scotland.

After a hiatus of 15 years the Stoats got back together in York to write new material. The results (Mandrake, Colin the Coypu, Norman the Heron) were impressive enough to warrant another reformation in 2011, also in York. This resulted in an impressive 13 new songs and there are rumours of 2012 festival appearances and a possible single for Sports Relief.

Mike Bushell is a sports presenter for BBC TV. Tim Rafferty is an ecologist, artist and musician. Pete "Babes" Wilson is a professional field-dweller.

Official Arthur the Stoat website