Corduroy Re-formed!

Last week, Craig Charles had Corduroy on his Funk & Soul show. They talked about re-forming the band and recording again. Craig will be broadcasting a live set from the new version of the band on his show this Saturday.

Corduroy were a four-piece acid jazz outfit based in London, formed around twins Ben Addison (drums/vocals) and Scott Addison (keyboards), who were previously in Sire Records act Boys Wonder (Scott had been guitarist with Boys Wonder, while Ben had been the lead vocalist). Joining the twins in the band were Richard Searle and guitarist Simon Nelson-Smith. Richard Searle had been bass player with Doctor and the Medics, who topped the UK pop charts in 1986 with a cover version of "Spirit in the Sky". Searle had joined the Addison twins in the final incarnation of Boys Wonder before the band gradually evolved into Corduroy in 1991, initially forming for a one-off New Year's Eve party.

The self-dubbed "fabric four" primarily recorded in a "groovy film soundtrack" style and many of their tracks were instrumentals. On the release of their first album Dad Man Cat, Paul Moody wrote in the New Musical Express: “Whereas the rest of the Acid Jazz roster fidget around in a world of skinny ribbed roll-necks comparing sideburn growth, Corduroy manage to swagger through the same po-faced domain with a couldn’t-care-less braggadocio... Corduroy have got their collective tongue stuck firmly in someone else’s cheek here and it feels staggeringly good.”

Releasing three eclectic albums on Eddie Piller's Acid Jazz Records, they received heavy radio airplay for their single "Something In My Eye" in 1993, but national chart success evaded them, although several singles from their 1993 album High Havoc charted in the UK Top Ten Independent Charts.

They remained a very popular live attraction, particularly on the college circuit. They also gained a healthy following in Japan, making the first of several trips to the country in 1993, and the following year they recorded a live album, Quattro - Live In Japan. After leaving Acid Jazz Records they signed to Big Cat Records, releasing two further albums: The New You! (April 1997) and the Goldie-produced Clik! (August 1999). But when they discovered that their record label, Big Cat, had been dropped by parent company V2, Corduroy decided to split up.