Steff Fish

Pete Friesen

Pete started playing guitar for Alice Cooper in 1989 on the “Trash” album world tour, travelling to North America, UK, Europe, Japan and Australia. A live DVD, “Trashes The World”, was recorded at the Birmingham NEC and released in 1990.
He went on to do the European tour of Alice’s next album “Hey Stoopid”, also appearing alongside Alice in the movie “Wayne’s World”.
Pete relocated to the UK in 1992 and joined Scottish rock band The Almighty who he played with for the next 4 years. Releasing 3 albums in that time: “Powertrippin”, (no. 5 in the UK album charts), “Crank” and “Just Add Life”; the band toured extensively throughout the UK, Europe, North and South America, Australia and Japan. Highlights were the 1992 Donington Monsters of Rock Festival and supporting Metallica at Milton Keynes Bowl.
The Almighty disbanded in 1996 and in 1997 Pete returned to Alice Cooper’s band do several more tours up until 2002. A live DVD from the “Brutal Planet” tour was recorded at Hammersmith Apollo and released in 2000.
In the summer of 2000 Pete played a string of summer festival dates in Iron Maiden vocalist Bruce Dickinson’s solo band.
Since 2000 Pete has been a tutor at the Academy of Contemporary Music in Guildford and has recorded production music for London based company Brilliant Music.
His tracks have been used in television and film all over the world.
In 2014 Pete played guitar in the Ray Davies/ Kinks musical “Sunny Afternoon”. It ran for two years in London’s West End and had performances at the Royal Opera House and the Royal Albert Hall. An original cast recording of the show, which was produced by Ray Davies, was released on Sony music.

Jose Manuel Cubides-Gutierrez

London based music producer, recording, mixing, and mastering engineer from Bogotá, Colombia
I’ve worked on sound design for short films, theatre, and TV adverts including Musto, XColor, and Reebok.
Currently about to receive a doctorate in which I explore the re-contextualisation of sound in electroacoustic and popular music.

Dave Tyler

Experienced multi-genre Freelance Bass Player with a demonstrated history of working in the music industry. Skilled in Songwriting, Music Education, Podcasting, Jazz, and Music Theory. Bass player for the band Bare Jams, as well as a director. Strong arts and design professional with a Bachelor of Arts – BA focused in Music Performance from The Academy of Contemporary Music. Recently gained a SQA Level 7 Professional Development Award in Practised-based learning for the creative and cultural industries with CLOCK Your Skills. Currently working as a Lecturer at the ACM, teaching undergraduate and post graduate modules.

Lee Gold

Lee Gold is one of the most successful and exciting singer’s to come out of South Africa in a long time. As well as being an exceptionally talented singer and performer, Lee is also an accomplished piano player, arranger, and musical director and relocated to London, UK in 2013 to expand her fan base.

Lee graduated from the University of Cape Town with both a Bmus Degree, as well as Postgraduate Diploma with Distinction. While at University Lee was tutored by renowned international vocal stars, like Deborah Tanguy (FR) and Natasha Roth (DE).

Lee Gold has achieved many musical awards and achievements. As a successful studio musician, Lee’s vocals can be heard on both movie soundtracks, and commercial/advertising campaigns, for brands such as “Lux Soap”, and “Nokia Smartphones”.
Lee has participated in The New York Voices Jazz Vocal Camp in OHIO, USA. And was also chosen personally by The New York Voices to perform an opening set for them, on the finale evening concert.
Lee was also selected as the house keyboard player, backing vocalist, and backing vocal arranger, for 2 consecutive years of the prestigious “SYMPHONIC ROCKS” symphony orchestra extravaganza, performing with many top South African and International acts, to record crowds, where Lee toured nationaly as keyboard player and backing vocalist for Grammy award winning, American rock legends COLLECTIVE SOUL.

Since relocating to London UK, Lee has earned a stellar reputation for versatility across the jazz, soul and pop genre’s. Lee performs regularly at the prestigious Boisdale Restaurants of London, of which Jools Holland is the Patron of Music. Other residencies have included, The Dorchester, The Savoy and the Londoner Hotel.
Lee is regularly invited to perform at many jazz clubs and venues, in and around the UK, and by popular demand, has been invited back regularly to perform at London’s iconic “Ronnie Scott’s Bar” where she is featured as a special guest, and is always extremely well received.

Lee has toured all over the world, including Dubai, France, Mauritius and in 2018 she was invited to play at the prestigious Casino De Monte Carlo in Monaco several times.

Bob Earland

Bob Earland is a musician, producer and engineer with over 20 years of experience in the music industry and recording credits including albums by Roots Manuva, Wiley, and Speech Debelle. He has also toured extensively as a session musician with bands such as Clor, and Jacknife Lee, as well as live performances of his own solo projects.

In 2013 he began working with the Radiophonic Workshop providing technical support and playing modular synthesisers and percussion for their live shows. This has included a collaborative project with Dick Mills and Stealing Sheep, to compose an alternative soundtrack for the film ‘La Planète Sauvage’, performed as part of the 2014 Brancharge film festival. A live recording of this was later released on Fire Records in 2021 and promoted with additional live performances at the Science Museum IMAX theatre and Bluedot festival the following year.

2023 sees the release of Dark Horses’ pandemic-delayed third album ‘While We Were Sleeping’, which Bob co-produced, and mixed, also contributing additional modular synth parts. It is due for release on March 17, 2023, with two limited edition coloured vinyl pressings on Little Cloud Records. Following the release, Bob has been joining the band onstage, recreating some of the studio effects and modular synth parts, at promotional shows in Brighton and London.

Tobias Alexander

Tobias has worked professionally as a drummer since 2006 working both nationally and internationally in live performance and studio settings.

He has experience across live radio and television, recording, and touring. After living and working in Paris during 2010 and 2011, Tobias returned to Britain to work managing an A and R team for an independent record label based in Birmingham.

Nic Britton

Nic Britton started his career in Music Production back in the early 90’s. Working as an Engineer for Network Records in his home town of Stoke-On-Trent. During this time, Nic worked with the founders of Detroit Techno and Chicago House, luminaries such as Kevin Saunderson, Juan Atkins, Underground Resistance, DJ Pierre and the French Techno DJ Laurent Garnier.
During the late 90’s and 00’s, Nic was a core member of the production team TILT. Working on remixes for artists such as- Mel C, Dido, Malcolm McClaren, Boy George and Jeff Waynes “War of the Worlds” as well as numerous DJ’s and Producers including Paul van Dyke and Paul Oakenfold.
Working with TILT on remixes and original tracks including five UK Top 20 singles and a UK Number One remix, Nic to this present day, more recently remixed a Billboard Top 20 hit by U2 as well as writing and producing for other artists.
Across his career, Nic has worked with most of the major record labels like Sony/BMG and Universal but is more commonly known for releases on Perfecto and Black Hole Recordings as well as underground labels like Pro-B Tech and Stripped Recordings.
Nic also reviews equipment and hardware and has had numerous reviews and masterclasses published.
Regarding teaching, Nic has taught across Music Technology since 2006 on a variety of levels from 2 through to 6, working for colleges and universities before joining ACM in 2017.
Currently Nic is working on a variety of projects with TILT including collaborating with members of a famous band from Manchester and writing the theme music for an upcoming documentary for a large streaming platform.

Matt Peters

Matt Peters has been leaving his mark, both as a performer and manager, in some of the most prestigious concert halls and performing arts centres across North America, Europe, and Asia for over 3 decades. Most recently, his music was featured at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.

While still completing his degree in Cello Performance from Northwestern University (USA), he started his career by becoming the youngest producer of the Chicago Symphony radio broadcasts in their history. Other notable positions in classical music include Midwest & West Coast booking agent for Columbia Artists Management, General Manager of the English Symphony Orchestra, Head of Strings at the Elgar School of Music, and managing several artists through his own company, ABMC Productions.

Using the name Mad EP, Matt is a composer, producer, remixer, and DJ who blurs the lines between hip-hop, classical, and electronic music.  His debut single (“When I’m 6”) was chosen for the legendary John Peel’s (BBC Radio 1) final broadcast, he has released several highly-acclaimed albums and EPs, and composed for experimental theatre productions and dance ensembles in the USA, Panama, and the UK.  He has performed at festivals and venues such as Transmediale (DE), TodaysArt (NL), DEAF (IE), Bangface (UK), and the Knitting Factory (US); and his genre-bending show “Tasty Cyanide Radio” ran on Sub.FM for 6 years.

Amie Chatterley

Amie is the Interim Foundation Pathway Lead, but also teaches across all creative pathways at ACM.

With over 15 years experience in the music industry as an independent artist, professional musician and entrepreneur she has worked within a variety of sectors.

She is the bassist and backing vocalist for progressive metal band Dakesis and Womenowar and has undertaken dep and session musician work for a range of artists, both live and in the studio.

Alongside her independent artist role, she is the Director of CapsaArx Studios, where she provides recording, rehearsal, artist coaching, PR and management services to independent artists who want to progress in their career.

Amie is also the founder of Birmingham based Power Metal Quest Festival and has played a major role within the Metal Music scene and within the events industry both at major and independent metal festivals, but also as a booking agent and promoter for a wide range of artists both in the UK and across Europe.

Amie is also a qualified mental health nurse and uses these skills to support and empower artists and creatives both in her work at CapsaArx studios and at ACM.

Connor Haynes

Connor Haynes is an engineer, sound artist and experimental musician, originally from Manchester and currently based in London. His career spans nearly ten years, and he’s worked live sound for +50,000 capacity festivals around the UK, along with having worked in multiple studios in Manchester. Connor also has professional experience as a sound installation A/V programmer using software such as Ma MSP, and his work on building an installation themed around the pandemic has been featured by The Sunday Times Culture Show.

Connor has been currently working as a freelance recording, mixing and mastering engineer since moving to London, along with performing as part of an experimental A/V collective, The Self.

Joshua Max wunderlich

Josh Wunderlich is a Birmingham born and based songwriter, producer and performer, with a varied career spanning genres, professions and the continents.

Currently working professionally as a commercial songwriter/producer for DWB Ltd, focussing on songs for the J-Pop, K-Pop, C-Pop and Eurovision markets, Josh also creates music as a solo artist (with projects such as “Heartsong” and “WUNDER RiKU”), as a frontman for 2 touring rock-fusion bands (“Big Band of Boom” and “Punch The Sky”) and managing artists such as The Voice Kids finalist, Tawana McGrath. Music that Josh has created has been streamed millions of times and performed to tens of thousands all around the world.

A proficient singer and guitarist (with specialisms in pop, rock, folk and various world musics) having taught in primary, secondary, further, higher and adult education, Josh aims to bring his wide range of experience directly into the classroom to connect students with what is happening right now in the wider, global music industry.

During his studies at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire (BMus Hons Music Technology) and Bath Spa University (Ma Songwriting), Josh also toured in the 60+ piece megaband, Joe Broughton’s Conservatoire Folk Ensemble, performing to audiences of tens of thousands and composed soundtracks for indie games and a mini-musical that was premiered at the London Short Film Festival.

In past lives, Josh has also worked professionally as a live sound engineer both locally, touring and at festivals for artists like Mahalia, Tom Walker and the CBSO, lead music therapy workshops with Musical Connections and worked as a session, pit and function player.

Madeline Castrey

Madeline Castrey is a musician, singer and researcher who enjoys a successful career in performance and academia. With a background in West End theatre and television, Madeline was the first ever 16 year old admitted onto a degree course at The London College of Music and now works as a PhD researcher. She is a professional opera and jazz singer, performing at many high profile venues including Opera Holland Park, Twickenham Stadium and The Shard in London, releases her own music with London labels and has had leading roles in several London shows including Les Miserables, Evita and The Lion King.
Madeline founded the charity Resonate, using music and singing to positively impact lives. Her work applying classical vocal technique to those living with serious neurological disability has been featured on several national outlets including BBC News, Sky News, BBC Radio, GB News and Channel 5 News. She has received several awards for her work and in 2022, she was honoured to judge the Princess Diana Awards as a past recipient herself, for young people making exceptional contributions to global communities. Alongside her performance and lecturing career, Madeline is also a musicologist and enjoys guest lecturing and voice/vocal coaching. She is passionate about the health/wellness benefits of using the voice and wrote her published book on this subject in 2023.