Groove Armada - History

History

Groove Armada first formed in the mid-1990s after they had been introduced by Cato's girlfriend and soon started their own club, also called Groove Armada, after a 1970s discothèque.

By 1997 they had released a few singles, including "4 Tune Cookie" and the song that first brought them minor fame, "At the River", which sampled "Old Cape Cod" by Patti Page (used in the film Die Hard 2). The song went on to be one of Groove Armada's best-known tracks and has been found on numerous chill out compilations.

Their first album, Northern Star, was released in 1998 on Tummy Touch Records, and was followed by their second album, Vertigo, in 1999, which had a more mainstream and more 'polished' sound, thus making the UK Album Chart's upper 20 and being certified silver in the UK. It also included "At the River" which was re-released as a full-fledged single. An album of remixed tracks from Vertigo entitled The Remixes followed in 2000, along with their contribution to the Back to Mine mix album series.

Their next studio album Goodbye Country (Hello Nightclub) was released in 2001, and as its title suggests marked a move away from chill out to more upbeat music – as demonstrated by the Grammy-nominated single "Superstylin'". Another mix album followed, this time for the Another Late Night series, and in 2002, less than a year after Goodbye Country (Hello Nightclub), Groove Armada produced Lovebox, which included a variety of genres including funk. Some tracks had a rock element to them, such as "Madder", while others were closer to Armada's traditional house music roots, such as the title track "Lovebox", and "Remember", which has vocals made up entirely of samples of Sandy Denny's singing for Fairport Convention. An additional bonus track was later released on their website entitled "Fairport".

A greatest hits album, entitled The Best of Groove Armada, appeared in 2004 – the last of their releases with Pepper Records – before their studio album Soundboy Rock was released in 2007. The album marked a notable departure from the multi-genre-influenced previous album, featuring tracks such as "Get Down" and "Groove Extracts", which follow the current UK garage trend, tracks with rock elements, and "Song 4 Mutya (Out of Control)" featuring the vocals of ex-Sugababes singer Mutya Buena, hailed by online music guide Popjustice as one of the best songs of 2007.

Following the successful Soundboy Rock singles, an updated best-of set titled Greatest Hits was released in October 2007. This was accompanied by GA10: 10 Year Story, a 2CD rarities collection released in November 2007 to celebrate their tenth anniversary as a band. The band have talked in-depth about the compilation, and cited it as an "emotional experience", selecting their personal favourite songs and mixes from their history.

Groove Armada also released a collaboration with The Japanese Popstars through Strictly Rhythm, via Beatport, in April 2008.

In the same year, Groove Armada engaged in a deal with Bacardi to distribute their new 4-track EP using a file sharing platform called B-Live Share.

During 2009, Findlay and Cato repeatedly confirmed the existence of a pending new album. While on the Bacardi Express tour in Australia, Findlay said it will be called Black Light and "is going to be the darker side of Groove Armada, which is finally coming out after 12 years." The first single, released on 23 November 2009, was "I Won't Kneel", featuring Groove Armada's new vocalist, SaintSaviour. The album's second single, "Paper Romance", was released on 22 February 2010, and the album was released in Europe on 28 February.

In October 2010, Groove Armada released a remix album, White Light, which contained recent studio re-recordings of alternative live versions of many songs from Black Light as well as other classic Groove Armada songs. Andy Cato stated on the official Groove Armada blog that "Ideas were flowing. Go, Not Forgotten, Look Me In the Eye Sister, Superstylin got even larger." Groove Armada headlined Uber Cool festival at Jersey Live on 3 September. The duo embarked on a series of secretive "living room" sets, performing intimately across the country for audiences of close friends. Little information surrounds these private performances, but the tour kicked off in Brighton in late January, 2011.

To date, the group has collaborated with a diverse array of artists, including Neneh Cherry, DJ Gram’Ma Funk, Sophie Barker, Nappy Roots, Fudge Dog, Sunshine Anderson, Mutya Buena, Jeru the Damaja, Richie Havens and Will Young.