Ones to Watch

Music fans who are always ahead of the trends and love to discover the next big thing…listen up. The White Heat, are the ones to watch.

Made up of Newman students Elliot Collings, Ethan Briscoe, Cameron Proctor and their friend Brad Hoyle, the band only began playing together in January 2022, but they are already causing quite a stir on the local music scene.

Ethan Briscoe, who is the lead singer and rhythm guitarist met bassist Cameron Proctor at school, when the pair attended All Hallows together, before joining Cardinal Newman in 2020, they played together with Ethan’s friend Brad, but it wasn’t until a chance meeting between Elliot and Ethan in Cardinal Newman’s Music practice rooms that the band was officially formed.

Ethan said: “The rest of us had been playing together for a while, but it wasn’t until we met Elliot and he joined the band that things all came together, he was the missing piece.”

The band started their live performances at an open mic night at legendary local venue, The Ferret, in Preston. After a couple of successful performances, the Ferret saw the band’s potential and began booking them to perform. Now, they have a string of dates planned, both in Preston and Manchester, with a gig at Off The Square, in Manchester on Saturday 23rd April, The Ferret on Friday 29th April and then Academy 3 in Manchester on Friday 20th May.

Since the band formed, it has really been a collaborative effort when it comes to writing their songs, with each member writing their own part, so Ethan writes the lyrics, Elliot does the drum parts and so on. The band would describe their sound as prog rock/indie rock, and site their influences as Radiohead, Jarvis Cocker, The Red Hot Chilli Peppers, The Strokes, Alex Turner and Oasis, all of which they believe has influenced their sound.

Despite putting so much of their time and energy into performing, the group are also very busy at College too. Elliot, who is in his first year of study at Newman, is studying A-Levels in Psychology, PE and a BTEC in Music Technology, as well as being part of the College’s Football Academy, alongside Cameron, who is in his second year of studying Physics, Maths and Economics. Ethan studies English Literature and Language, Maths, Physics and a BTEC in Music Performance. Despite wanting to focus on A-Levels, Ethan chose to study Music Performance so he could continue with his Music and meet other musicians. The decision clearly paid off, and now the group are on the precipice of greatness, with a meeting scheduled for next week with Dusty Pop, a promotions label based in Manchester, who the band hope can elevate their status and expand their fanbase.

“We recorded our first song here at College, in the recording studio and then edited it at home. Without the College facilities we would never have been able to get started, and I doubt that we’d have had the confidence to go into the studio and record our songs.” Ethan added.

The Band’s latest single “Left Hand Drive” is available on all platforms from 11th April.