Ian Prowse of Amsterdam on Christy Moore, Sylvia Plath and a Christmas spectacular

"It's going to be a huge party to celebrate a beautiful year for our music," says singer Ian Prowse.
The band are in the middle of their first national headline tour in two years, ("Started great, went rubbish for a gig, then went out of this world again in London," says Ian)
but it's the Liverpool show that promises to top them all.
What can we as an audience look forward to?
"Most of (latest album) Arm in Arm I reckon," says Ian, and then he adds with a grin: "I'm going to invite Alan Wills of Deltasonic to the show. He said people over 29 couldn't make vital music."
It looks as though Alan is about to be proved very wrong.
Amsterdam have one of the biggest and most fervent live followings of any band in the city. With their Celtic fiddles and flutes and massive pop tunes, they specialise in some of the most vital music around.
The gig will be Amsterdam's first here since their album launch in March. In the months that followed Ian has been busy writing new material, as well as performing at Glastonbury and being voted in at number 14 in Liverpool.com's best Merseyside albums of all time poll.
"I've been busy working, creating, dying and living," he says.
"I have been writing like a demon; we are going to really try and play one (new song) in Liverpool. As an artist you never get a bigger thrill than doing something brand new, and I'm on a roll.
From the early days of his previous band Pele, Ian's writing has always been influenced by other art forms - in particular literature and art - and it seems this is still the case.
"Yes always," he explains. "To me Sylvia Plath makes Morrissey look like a joke writer. George Orwell wrote and died doing it.... the celebrity world passes me by. Unless you mean it and will die for it I don't want to know. I don't even have a television."
It's hard for Ian to list Amsterdam's 2008 highlights. But he'll have a good go.
"The duet with Elvis (Costello), reception of Arm in Arm, turning down an opportunity to play for the Queen, Glastonbury, singing for John Peel on the telly...but above everything was going to Ireland to be with Christy Moore and really feel what a genuinely beautiful artist does with himself."
But despite the band's strong Irish links, and their many London dates, their heart is firmly routed in Liverpool.
"Liverpool is in my soul," says Ian. "The river, the people, the deep Celtic artistic connection, the way everyone wants to sing - the way we will always be us."
"When I'm on tour I miss walking down to the river, seeing who I really am."
Fittingly, Ian describes his perfect day as: "Sitting around the back of Speke Hall down by the mighty river, watching the planes take off.
"On a bright day you can almost see Ireland to the West, my hometown across the river, the Welsh Mountains to the South and the next day coming from the East. Then go into Speke Hall and have the lovely potato bake."
He finds his inspiration all around the city: "The girl that I love, the blue in her eye, the melody of my next song, the next poem, my friends, the struggles they have, our connection to each other and above all Damien Dempsey, Bruce Springsteen and Christy Moore."
But he's not so sure Liverpool being Capital of Culture has helped the music scene in the city.
"Culture Company is an oxymoron - that kind of sums it up really," he says, grimly.
But he agrees it has helped Amsterdam: "Yes, in the sense that Liverpool has been the centre of attention, but not it's not helped in a bigger way. Music is much better than that. Liverpool is much bigger than that.
"I've loved living in town this year - it's been a joy to watch the city develop."
How about things like MTV coming to the city? Or Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr?
"MTV means nothing to me but I guess seeing Beyonce in the Grapes is a buzz," he says. "Paul is one of us and I love him so. Ringo had made it plain he cares not for the city. That's his cross to bear."
What's next for you?
"I will do what I've always done," says Ian. "But I will try and grow as a man too. I'm not going to become a rock and roll casualty. You have to love yourself before you can love anything else."
What do you dream of?
"In all honesty, I dream of you Jade Wright, but most of Liverpool knows that already..."
Amsterdam play Carling Academy Liverpool on Saturday December 6. Tickets, priced £10, available from www.amsterdam-music.com or 0151 256 5555.