CORDUROY

"We used to want to be the party band in all those films when you get a club scene or a party scene, you get this groovy band pretending to be playing in a corner"

They've been grooving away for nearly a decade now. From their Mod roots, to their successful stint with Acid Jazz, Corduroy have just recorded their most wholesome, coherent dance record, capturing the best of the modern, eclectic dance world. Techno, disco, pop and big beat all stew in the melting pot that is Click! (Big Cat Records).

Formed by twins Ben and Scott Addison from the ashes of 80s pop combo Boys' Wonder with former Dr and the Medics bassist Richard Searle and guitarist Simon Nelson-Smith. Corduroy released three eclectic albums on Acid Jazz before breaking away from the confines of the fast fading chin stroking, goatee beard beatnik scene and signed to Big Cat Records.

Ready Steady Go! spoke to Richard Searle about the new Corduroy direction, the album and the bands past.

RSG: First of all tell us about the new album, Click!?

RS: "It is produced by Rob Playford, who has worked with 'Goldie'. It is much tighter than anything I have ever done before because it is all recorded through a computer. Everything else we have done was pretty much live. One track on our last album 'The joker is wild' did venture into that kind of thing but that is the only time really. It took 9 months - 6 months back to back. That is the longest time I have ever spent on one album. It took a long time because of the process of using the computer".

RSG: Despite the heavy use of modern technology, it still has quite an organic sound to it.

RS: "It has live instruments on it - all it means is that you can manipulate anything on a computer to how you want it. It is loud because that is what Rob likes. We had two huge monitors, which cost about £11,000 each. We do a track called 'Play Loud' on the album and we melted the cone on one of them and blew the other one up!! I was well impressed with that".

RSG: There is a lot of things going on (Techno, Drum and Bass, even a Japanese pop influence)?

"Future High Street' - that was quite techno. 'Moshi Moshi' - that had a Japanese influence. This was a single. We go to Japan a lot. You can get an extra track on the Japanese albums, we have to do this as part of the Japanese contract. It started off just being an extra track for the Japanese but it turned up making the album.

RSG: The Japanese seem to enjoy your style of music and there is a big following over there for cool bands that never seem to make the big time in the UK.

RS: "They have a nice outlook on music - very different from in the UK. They accept pretty much anything. They like any western bands and now a lot of western bands have started going there".

RSG: The new album puts you into the current dance market? It puts you up there with the Chemical Brothers and Fatboy Slim etc?

RS: "It does not really compete with their music, but I do know what you mean. I guess it is far more acceptable if you like dance music 'Future High Street' is quite an aggressive track and I think there is nothing in the charts which is as loud as that. It really is heavy - but it does have a pop focal point".

RSG: One of the highlights on Click! is the sexy groovy disco pop of 'Thing For Your Love'. You can't stop your body from moving to this groove. Get ready to glide across the dance floor to the classy hooks that recall the upbeat splendour of Deee-Lite's sugar sweet retro groove pop opus 'Groove Is In The Heart'.

RS: "Apparently, that track is already being played in many clubs already. They are playing it in different types of clubs and also playing the other tracks from the album. The tracks are club friendly. I heard 'Moshi Moshi' at a Indie club after a 'Soundtrack of Our Lives' gig, a Swedish Rock/Indie band. That surprised me. All our tracks on the album are club friendly".

RSG: Corduroy are still pigeon holed with the Acid Jazz scene despite breaking free from the label several years ago. The change in direction may pleasantly surprise a few people.

RS: "Yeh - Acid jazz has always been on the scene - but there has always been the other stuff/ideas. The first album was pretty heavy and energetic and it had psychedelic moments".

RSG: Corduroy plan to re-release the hard to find previous albums in the near future plus a live album. There is also a budget priced 'Best Of' currently doing the rounds. I asked Richard to give a few 'sound bites' on the first four Corduroy albums.

RS: "All of the 3 acid jazz albums are coming out. The first and the third albums - you can still get hold of. The hardest one to get hold of is 'High Havoc'. When the artwork for this album went to the record company the photo was under exposed and so we coloured the hair in with a biro. This went back to the record company and they thought that this was our final artwork change and all the copies were pressed up. If you can get hold of a copy of 'High Havoc' on vinyl with Byroad/coloured in hair this is the most collectable".

"The first one (Dad Man Cat) was the most popular. It was loud, rocky, jazzy instrumentals. It was really quick. We had only been together for a matter of months. This album had energy. It was probably the most successful debut album of its age".

RSG: Which year was that released?

"1993 or it might have been '92. It was the same year we recorded 'High Havoc'. 'High Havoc' was more laid back than the first album, really 60s, really kitsch. It was like a film soundtrack. We wrote an imaginary film script and put the music to it. We used to want to be the party band in all those films when you get a club scene or a party scene, you get this groovy band pretending to be playing in a corner. That's where we thought we belong".

"In 1994 we made 'Out Of Here' (the third album). That was less energetic. Acid jazz was at its height. We supported 'Blur' at Alexandra Palace with this album. This was just before Brit-Pop. The new wave was just turning into Brit-Pop. Brit-Pop kicked-in in 1995 and it killed off Acid Jazz. We could have ridden the 'Brit-Pop wave' but we did not. We could have fitted into that quite well but we decided not to".

"Then we recorded the fourth album and then 'Big Cat' picked it up and put it out. It was released on 'Big Cat' here - but it was still without a Producer".

RSG: Corduroy have been linked with the Mod Scene from their early days and their vision has remained strictly modernist since the beginning.

RS: When we first started we definitely had a strong Mod following. We were always going to Mod clubs. A guy had a club in London and helped us a lot in the beginning. There was only a small Mod scene at that time and we would argue 'til we were blue in the face that we WERE a mod band. Especially in the beginning we very much relied on that Mod following. There were only two places where we could play. Either in London night-clubs or at the Mod stuff places".

RSG: Richard is the psychedelic head in Corduroy. He is a big fan of Love, Arthur Lee is one of his heroes. He also digs the retro garage rockers MakeUp, Super Furry Animals ("I guess they are the band - I like them a lot).

Click! is out now on Big Cat Records.