Groove Armada joins Vibes on a Summers Day Lineup
Author: Vibes
Sunday, December 23, 2001
Due to a last minute change to their tour schedule, the Vibes crew have been able to secure from the UK,Groove Armada to play Perth, Brisbane, and Melbourne Vibes!
Groove Armada will join an already enormous international line up which includes:
Jamiroquai, Llorca, Norman Jay, Layo + Bushwacka!, Miguel Migs, Resin Dogs, Tayo, DJ Regal, Trio Eletrico, Dynamo Productions, Soul Jazz Sound System And more local artists and DJ's.
The Groove Armada - Vibes dates are as follows:
Perth: Friday, 25 January 2002
Brisbane: Friday, 1 February 2002
Melbourne: Sunday, 3 February 2002
For more details check street press, Channel V, Triple J or visit the website: www.vibes.net.au
GROOVE ARMADA BIOGRAPHY
One of the most critically acclaimed bands to emerge from UK dance scene in the last two years, Groove Armada are equally revered by the public, plus some very famous fans. Madonna, for whom they remixed the #1 hit 'Music' and Sir Elton John are both Groove Armada admirers. Upon Elton John's request, Groove Armada were booked to play at America's 'Interview' Magazine's 30th Birthday Party, which he was hosting. Their set was rapturously received by the likes of Johnny Depp, Calvin Klein, Liz Hurley, Jon Bon Jovi, Puff Daddy, Moby and Giorgio Armani.
In the year 2001 Groove Armada's star is definitely on the rise, but it all began some 7 years ago when Andy Cato was introduced by his girlfriend to a group of Cambridge music makers; Tim 'Love' Lee, the Idjut Boys and a young man called Tom Findlay.
Tom and Andy with the rest of the group sat around, chatted, listened to records, played bass guitar and discovered they had a shared love of jazz, funk, disco and real house.
Andy, a born-and-bred Yorkshireman, began his musical career in a colliery brass band, from which he progressed to become the UK's Young Jazz Musician Of The Year. He developed a parallel obsession with house music, introduced to it by his cousin Digs of the by-now-infamous DIY crew. "My whole youth was filled with music in school," recalls Andy, who plays a variety of instruments, including trombone, keyboards, and bass guitar. "I did everything with music that I could, without going to a music school. I was going to go to a music school when I was 17, but thankfully my parents talked me out of it and I stayed in the real world."
Along with a host of nu-house luminaries - Harvey, Nuphonics', Tim 'Love' Lee from Tummy Touch - Tom is an exile from dreamy Cambridge, where he spent his youth seeking out obscure funk rarities, DJing and picking up skills on bass and trumpet. He relocated to Manchester where he promoted a series of successful nights, and whilst there leant his considerable talents as a live musician to some of the area's finest funk outfits.
Following a hugely successful residency at Oxford's Spectrum night, Andy decamped to London where he set up the Skinnymalinky label. Tom had also just moved to London and the two hooked up and began a club night under the name of 'Captain Sensual at the Helm of the Groove Armada', taking their name from a Kitsch '70's disco club night in Newcastle. Soon after the boys embarked on the idea for the recorded Groove Armada project, which would become a more mature outlet for their creativity, where they could escape the 4/4 shackles of house.
In 1997 Groove Armada's first single 'At The River' was released on Tummy Touch Records. Originally a limited 7" release of 500 copies, the funky fireside dub of 'At The River' caused mass hysteria amongst the nation's hacks "Spotters are swapping their grandmothers for copies of it", said Kevin Braddock at the NME.
The same year Tummy Touch released Groove Armada's debut album. Combining jazz and funk influences with house rhythms and technology, 'Northern Star's' wide range of references and eclectic feel led to praise from publications as diverse as Mixmag, Jockey Slut, Select, Echoes and Touch, and led< Tags