| Robyn Hitchcock |
Live
@ Iron Horse., Northampton, MA 3/28/2005
|
| Background
information |
| Born |
March 3, 1953 |
| Genre(s) |
Indie rock, Folk |
| Occupation(s) |
Musician, Actor |
| Instrument(s) |
Guitar, Piano |
Associated
acts |
Soft Boys, Robyn Hitchcock
and the Egyptians |
| Website |
http://robynhitchcock.com |
Robyn Rowan Hitchcock (born March 3, 1953) is an English singer-songwriter
and psych
folk guitarist who also dabbles in most forms of art, in particular
painting and poetry, and has occasionally shown an interest in acting.
While primarily a vocalist and guitarist, both acoustic and electric, he
also plays harmonica,
piano and bass
both on record and on stage.
|
Contents
- 1 Style
- 2 Biography
- 2.1 Early
life & recording career
- 2.2 1980s
- 2.3 1990s
- 2.4 2000s
- 2.5 Interests
- 3 Album
discography
- 4 References
- 5 External
links
|
Style
Hitchcock's musical and lyrical styles have drawn influence
from his appreciation of Bob Dylan, John
Lennon and Syd Barrett. Hitchcock's
lyrics have proved a central thrust of his work, and tend to include
surrealism, comedic songs, characterizations of fictional English
eccentrics and melancholy depictions of everyday life. The underlying
themes of much of his output from the start of his career include what
many psychologists view as the roots of modern neurosis - namely,
death, sex and eating. [Recognising this theme, he released an EP in
2007 called "Sex, Food, Death and Tarantulas".]
Biography
Early life & recording
career
Born in London,
England,
he began his recording career in 1976 with the Cambridge-based
punk/New
Wave band The Soft Boys, a local group with an
interest in the odd concept of 'psychedelic punk'. After the group
broke up in 1981, Hitchcock began recording as a solo artist.
1980s
From the start of the 1980s, Hitchcock swung between solo
releases, primarily recorded acoustically, and group efforts with his
next band. The Egyptians, comprising former members of The Soft Boys
(Andy Metcalfe and Morris Windsor) and early keyboardist Roger Jackson,
began playing in 1984. Although mainstream success largely eluded them,
The Egyptians achieved moderate success in the U.S. via college radio
and MTV in the
latter half of the 1980s and early 1990s with their singles "Balloon
Man" in 1988, "Madonna Of The Wasps" in 1989 and "So You Think You're
In Love" in 1991.
1990s
During the 1990s, Hitchcock continued his pattern of recording
solo albums between releases by the Egyptians. 1993's Respect
(a record influenced a great deal by his father's death) marked the
last Egyptians release, and the end of his association with A&M
Records. Early in 1994 he disbanded the Egyptians before embarking on a
short reunion tour with The Soft Boys. His work received a slight boost
in 1995 when his back catalogue (including both solo releases and
Egyptians albums) were re-packaged and re-issued in the U.S. by the
respected Rhino Records label. For the rest of
the decade he continued recording and performing as a solo artist,
releasing several albums on Warner Brothers Records, such as
1996's Moss Elixir (which featured the
contributions of violinist Deni Bonet), and the soundtrack from the Jonathan
Demme-directed concert film Storefront Hitchcock in
1998.
2000s
In 2001, Hitchcock re-united and toured with Kimberley
Rew, bassist Matthew Seligman, and Morris Windsor for The
Soft Boys re release of their best-known album, 1980's Underwater
Moonlight. The following year they recorded and released a
new album Nextdoorland which was accompanied by a
short album of outtakes, Side Three. The Soft Boys
disbanded once more in 2003.
In 2002 he released a double album Robyn Sings,
comprised of cover versions of Bob Dylan
songs, including a live recreation of Dylan's Live at the
Royal Albert Hall 1966 concert.
In 2003 Hitchcock celebrated his 50th birthday with a concert
at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London at which his new solo acoustic
album Luxor was
given away as a party favour to all those attending.
In 2004 he released Spooked,
which was recorded with country/folk duo Gillian
Welch and David Rawlings. This included another
Dylan cover and a love song to his television set amongst its twelve
titles.
In 2006 Olé! Tarantula
was released with The Venus 3, a band which consists of R.E.M.'s
Peter
Buck, Young Fresh Fellows' frontman Scott
McCaughey, and Ministry's Bill
Rieflin.
In 2007 he was the subject of a new documentary Robyn
Hitchcock: Sex, Food, Death... and Insects
directed by John Edginton,
shown in US on the Sundance Channel and in the UK on BBC4. “Food, sex
and death are all corridors to life if you like. You need sex to get
you here, you need food to keep you here and you need death to get you
out and they’re the entry and exit signs.” The filmmaker eavesdrops on
Hitchcock at work on his latest collection of songs with contributors
including Nick
Lowe, former Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones,
R.E.M.'s
Peter
Buck and Gillian Welch. The film culminates
with Hitchcock and the band taking the songs on the road in America.
The film also includes candid interviews with Hitchcock, who reveals
much about the source of his work: “At heart I’m a frightened angry
person. That’s probably why my stuff isn’t totally insubstantial. I’m
constantly, deep down inside, in a kind of rage.”
Interests
Additionally, Hitchcock has an interest in acting, literature
and art. He writes short stories, paints (often in a whimsical, surrealist
style) and draws in the cartoon-strip mode. Many of Hitchcock's album
covers bear his paintings or drawings, and his albums' liner notes
sometimes include a printed short story. His live concerts usually
include a considerable amount of story-telling, in the form of
imaginative and surreal ad-libbed monologues in his lyrical style.
Hitchcock collaborated with director Jonathan
Demme in 1998 for a live concert and film Storefront
Hitchcock, and later appeared in Demme's 2004
remake of The Manchurian
Candidate, in which he played double agent
Laurent Tokar.
Robyn is the son of novelist Raymond Hitchcock and the brother
of artist Lal Hitchcock. He
is not related to Alfred Hitchcock.
Album discography
- Black Snake Diamond Role,
1981
- Groovy Decay,
1982
- I Often Dream of Trains,
1984
- Fegmania!, 1985
- Gotta Let This Hen Out!,
1985
- Groovy Decoy,
1985
- Element of Light,
1986
- Invisible Hitchcock,
1986
- Globe of Frogs,
1988
- Queen Elvis, 1989
- Eye, 1990
- Perspex Island,
1991
- Respect,
1993
- The Kershaw
Sessions (Robyn Hitchcock), 1994
- You & Oblivion,
1995
- Gravy Deco, 1995
- Robyn Hitchcock (Album),
1995
- Moss Elixir, 1996
- Mossy Liquor,
1996
- Greatest Hits,
1996
- Uncorrected
Personality Traits, 1997
- Live at the
Cambridge Folk Festival, 1998
- Storefront Hitchcock,
1998
- Storefront Hitchcock L.P.,
1998
- Jewels for Sophia,
1999
- A Star for Bram,
2000
- Robyn Sings, 2002
- Luxor, 2003
- Spooked, 2004
- Obliteration Pie,
2005
- This is the BBC
(live recordings), 2006
- Olé! Tarantula,
2006
References
External links
