Groove Armada

Biography

If you're fond of sand dunes and salty air. Quaint little villages, here and there." The sun-kissed, sea-side reverie of Groove Armada's At The River almost singlehandedly spearheaded the chillout explosion of a few years ago, featuring on approximately 3,456 coffee table compilation CDs. But over the course of their seven year career the Armada duo have demonstrated a much wider repertoire than mere sophisticated lounge trickery, incorporating house, dub, hip-hop and psychedelic soul into their music.

With the distinctly un-hip accolade of Young Jazz Musician of the Year for 1995, and a junior career as trombonist in a Yorkshire colliery brass band, Groove Armada's Andy Cato may never have fashioned a career as an exponent of cool dance grooves. But Andy was saved from a lifetime of trombone recitals at the local village hall by his cousin Digs, who, as a member of the cult house collective DIY, introduced the 6ft 8" Andy to house music. "My whole youth was filled with music in school," recalls Cato, who plays a variety of instruments, including keyboards, and bass guitar. "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."

Andy took up a DJ residency at the Spectrum in Cambridge before moving to London to establish the label, Skinnymalinky and met up with his future Groove Armada partner, Tom Findlay a fellow DJ, on the club circuit in London.

Tom was a Cambridge exile who'd spent his youth DJ-ing, seeking out obscure funk rarities and picking up skills on bass and trumpet. He relocated to Manchester and promoted a series of successful club nights. While there he honed his talent as a live musician, playing with several local funk outfits. Andy and Tom soon discovered they shared a love of jazz, funk, disco and house tunes. The pair decided to launch a joint club night, Captain Sensual At The Helm Of The Groove Armada before deciding to record their own music under a shortened version of the name which originated from a Kitsch '70's disco club night in Newcastle.