Cornershop are a British
indie rock
Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the mu ...
band best known for their single "
Brimful of Asha
"Brimful of Asha" is a song by British alternative rock band Cornershop (band), Cornershop from their third album, ''When I Was Born for the 7th Time'' (1997). The recording originally reached number 60 on the UK Singles Chart in 1997. After a re ...
", originally released in 1997 and, in a remixed version, topping the UK chart in 1998. The band was formed in 1991 by
Wolverhampton
Wolverhampton () is a city, metropolitan borough and administrative centre in the West Midlands, England. The population size has increased by 5.7%, from around 249,500 in 2011 to 263,700 in 2021. People from the city are called "Wulfrunian ...
-born Tjinder Singh (singer, songwriter, and guitar), his brother Avtar Singh (bass guitar, vocals), David Chambers (drums) and Ben Ayres (guitar, keyboards, and
tamboura), the first three having previously been members of
Preston-based band General Havoc, who released one single (the ''Fast Jaspal EP'') in 1991.
[Buckley, Peter (2003) ''The Rough Guide to Rock'', ]Rough Guides
Rough Guides Ltd is a British travel guide book and reference publisher, which has been owned by APA Publications since November 2017. In addition to publishing guidebooks, the company also provides a tailor-made trips service based on customer ...
, , p.229-230 The band name originated from a stereotype referring to
British Asian
British Asians (also referred to as Asian Britons) are British citizens of Asian descent. They constitute a significant and growing minority of the people living in the United Kingdom, with 6.9% of the population identifying as Asian/Asian Brit ...
s often owning
corner shops. Their music is a
fusion
Fusion, or synthesis, is the process of combining two or more distinct entities into a new whole.
Fusion may also refer to:
Science and technology Physics
*Nuclear fusion, multiple atomic nuclei combining to form one or more different atomic nucl ...
of
Indian music
Owing to India's vastness and diversity, Indian music encompasses numerous genres in multiple varieties and forms which include classical music, folk (Bollywood), rock, and pop. It has a history spanning several millennia and developed ove ...
,
indie rock
Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the mu ...
, alternative and
electronic dance music.
History
Formation and early years: 1991–1996
Tjinder Singh formed the General Havoc whilst a student at
Lancashire Polytechnic
, mottoeng = "From the Earth to the Sun"
, established = as Institution for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledgere-established 1992 (University status granted)
, type = Public
, chancellor ...
in Preston, in 1987.
He relocated to Leicester, where his brother and sister lived, and formed Cornershop in 1991 along with his brother Avtar, and Chambers and Ayres, while working as a barman at Leicester's Magazine pub, also a popular local music venue.
The band played their first gig at Leicester's ''O'Jays'' venue.
In the early 1990s, when singer
Morrissey
Steven Patrick Morrissey (; born 22 May 1959), known professionally as Morrissey, is an English singer and songwriter. He came to prominence as the frontman and lyricist of rock band the Smiths, who were active from 1982 to 1987. Since then ...
was being vilified by the UK music press after accusations of racism, the band were invited to comment and the ''Melody Maker'' ran a story featuring the band burning a picture of the singer outside the offices of
EMI
EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At the time of its break-up in 201 ...
.
[Beaujon, Andrew (1996)]
Cornershop: Bhangra Punk!
, ''CMJ New Music Monthly
CMJ Holdings Corp. is a music events and online media company, originally founded in 1978, which ran a website, hosted an annual festival in New York City, and published two magazines, ''CMJ New Music Monthly'' and ''CMJ New Music Report''. Th ...
'', February 1996, p. 20.
Their debut release, the ''In The Days of Ford Cortina EP'', was pressed on "curry-coloured vinyl"
[Larkin, Colin (1998) ''The Virgin Encyclopedia of Indie & New Wave'', Virgin Books, , p.99-100] and contained a blend of Indian-tinged noise pop. The sound mellowed somewhat with the release of debut album ''
Hold On It Hurts
''Hold On It Hurts'' is the 1994 debut album by Cornershop. It failed to reach commercial success, but went some way in helping the band find its niche in the following years.
Track listing
All lyrics written by Tjinder Singh; all music comp ...
'' in 1994, described by ''
Trouser Press
''Trouser Press'' was a rock and roll magazine started in New York in 1974 as a mimeographed fanzine by editor/publisher Ira Robbins, fellow fan of the Who Dave Schulps and Karen Rose under the name "Trans-Oceanic Trouser Press" (a reference to ...
'' as "a politically charged popfest, ten tracks of noisy delights that meld incisive social commentary with a firm hold on British post-punk."
[McCaleb, Ian & Reno, Brad]
Cornershop
, ''Trouser Press
''Trouser Press'' was a rock and roll magazine started in New York in 1974 as a mimeographed fanzine by editor/publisher Ira Robbins, fellow fan of the Who Dave Schulps and Karen Rose under the name "Trans-Oceanic Trouser Press" (a reference to ...
'' The album impressed
David Byrne
David Byrne (; born 14 May 1952) is a Scottish-American singer, songwriter, record producer, actor, writer, music theorist, visual artist and filmmaker. He was a founding member and the principal songwriter, lead singer, and guitarist of ...
sufficiently for him to sign the band to his
Luaka Bop
Luaka Bop is a New York–based record label founded by musician David Byrne, former lead singer and guitarist for the art rock– new wave band Talking Heads. What began with Byrne making cassettes of his favorite Tropicália tracks for his frien ...
label.
Although David Chambers left the band in 1994, replaced by Nick Simms, the band re-emerged in 1995 with the "6 a.m. Jullandar Shere" single and the album ''
Woman's Gotta Have It
''Woman's Gotta Have It'' is the second album by Cornershop, released in 1995.
Recording and release
The song ''My Dancing Days Are Done'' is performed in French (''mes jours de bal perdus'') by the guest singers Parsley and Sasha Andres. The ...
'', also touring the United States including some dates on the
Lollapalooza
Lollapalooza (Lolla) is an annual American four-day music festival held in Grant Park in Chicago. It originally started as a touring event in 1991 but several years later made Chicago the permanent location for the annual music festival. Musi ...
tour.
The band also toured Europe with
Beck
Beck David Hansen (born Bek David Campbell; July 8, 1970) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He rose to fame in the early 1990s with his Experimental music, experimental and Lo-fi music, lo-fi style, and became ...
,
Stereolab
Stereolab are an Anglo- French avant-pop band formed in London in 1990. Led by the songwriting team of Tim Gane and Lætitia Sadier, the group's music combines influences from krautrock, lounge and 1960s pop music, often incorporating a repetit ...
and
Oasis
In ecology, an oasis (; ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environment'ksar''with its surrounding feeding source, the palm grove, within a relational and circulatory nomadic system.”
The location of oases has been of critical imp ...
.
Mainstream success: 1997–2001
The band released their critically acclaimed album ''
When I Was Born for the 7th Time
''When I Was Born for the 7th Time'' is the third studio album by the British indie rock band Cornershop, released on 8 September 1997 by Wiiija. The album received high acclaim from music critics and features the international hit single "Brimf ...
'' in September 1997. The album featured collaborations with
Allen Ginsberg
Irwin Allen Ginsberg (; June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet and writer. As a student at Columbia University in the 1940s, he began friendships with William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, forming the core of the Beat Gener ...
,
Paula Frazer
Paula Frazer is an American singer-songwriter. She grew up in Georgia and Arkansas and moved to San Francisco in 1981. Her music is frequently described as melancholic alternative country, but with an eclectic mix of folk, blues and pop, among ...
,
Justin Warfield
Justin Evan Warfield (born April 20, 1973) is an American musician and hip hop MC. He is the lead vocalist, guitarist and keyboardist of the darkwave duo She Wants Revenge, which formed in 2004.
In 1993, he released a hip-hop album titled '' M ...
and a
Yoko Ono
Yoko Ono ( ; ja, 小野 洋子, Ono Yōko, usually spelled in katakana ; born February 18, 1933) is a Japanese multimedia artist, singer, songwriter, and peace activist. Her work also encompasses performance art and filmmaking.
Ono grew up i ...
- and
Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...
-approved cover of "
Norwegian Wood" recorded in the
Punjabi language
Punjabi (; ; , ), sometimes spelled Panjabi, is an Indo-Aryan language of the Punjab region of Pakistan and India. It has approximately 113 million native speakers.
Punjabi is the most widely-spoken first language in Pakistan, with 80.5 m ...
. The album was produced by Tjinder Singh and
Dan the Automator
Daniel M. Nakamura better known by his stage name Dan the Automator, is an American record producer from San Francisco, California. He is the founder of the publishing company Sharkman Music and the record label 75 Ark.
Early life
Nakamura was bo ...
. Rolling Stone called it one of the essential recordings of the 1990s. The album was ranked No. 1 on Spin's list of 'Top 20 Albums of the Year' (1998)
The track "Brimful of Asha" topped the legendary Festive 50 rundown of
John Peel
John Robert Parker Ravenscroft (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey (DJ) and radio presenter. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly fr ...
's tracks of the year in 1997.
Norman Cook
Norman Quentin Cook (born Quentin Leo Cook, 31 July 1963), also known by his stage name Fatboy Slim, is an English musician, DJ, and record producer who helped to popularise the big beat genre in the 1990s. In the 1980s, Cook was the bassist f ...
(a.k.a. Fatboy Slim) loved the track and remixed the song, which became hugely popular and captured the attention of the world. The song was a tribute to the prolific Indian
playback singer
A playback singer, also known as a ghost singer, is a singer whose singing is pre-recorded for use in films. Playback singers record songs for soundtracks, and actors or actresses lip-sync the songs for cameras; the actual singer does not app ...
,
Asha Bhosle
Asha Bhosle (; Mangeshkar; born 8 September 1933) is an Indian playback singer, entrepreneur
and occasional actress and television personality who predominantly works in Indian Cinema. Known for her versatility, she has been described in the ...
, and Tjinder's musical influences such as
Trojan Records
Trojan Records is a British record label founded in 1968. It specialises in ska, rocksteady, reggae and dub music. The label currently operates under the Sanctuary Records Group. The name ''Trojan'' comes from the Croydon-built Trojan truck t ...
and vinyl culture in general.
In 2000 Ayres and Singh released a
disco
Disco is a genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the 1970s from the United States' urban nightlife scene. Its sound is typified by four-on-the-floor beats, syncopated basslines, string sections, brass and horns, electric pia ...
inspired album ''Disco and the Halfway to Discontent'' as part of their side-project, Clinton. This album inspired the launch of the London-based clubnight called
Buttoned Down Disco, which took its name from the third track on the album.
Further success: 2002–2010
Their next official Cornershop release was the 2002 album, ''
Handcream for a Generation
''Handcream for a Generation'' is the fourth studio album to be recorded by the British rock band Cornershop. It was released on 1 April 2002 by Wiiija. Following the release of their third studio album ''When I Was Born for the 7th Time'' (1 ...
'', which featured
Noel Gallagher
Noel Thomas David Gallagher (born 29 May 1967) is an English singer, songwriter, and musician. He was the chief songwriter, lead guitarist, and co-lead vocalist of the rock band Oasis until their split in 2009. After leaving Oasis, he formed ...
on guitar.
According to their official website, Cornershop have been making a film about London's independent music industry since 2003. In 2004 the band released the track 'Topknot' featuring the vocals of Bubbley Kaur on Rough Trade Records. In February 2006, some four years after their last album, they released another single "Wop the Groove" featuring guest vocals from
Happy Mondays
Happy Mondays are an English rock band formed in Salford in 1980. The original line-up was Shaun Ryder (vocals), his brother Paul Ryder ( bass), Gary Whelan (drums), Paul Davis (keyboard), and Mark Day (guitar). Mark "Bez" Berry later joined t ...
backing singer
Rowetta
Rowetta Idah (born 5 January 1966, in Manchester), also known as Rowetta or Rowetta Satchell, is a British singer. She is best known for her work with the Happy Mondays, recording and touring with the band from 1990 and recently reforming with th ...
.
In 2008, their song "Candyman" was featured in the Nike advertisement for the LeBron James VI shoe, called the Six "Chalk" commercial.
Cornershop released an album ''
Judy Sucks a Lemon for Breakfast
''Judy Sucks a Lemon for Breakfast'' is a 2009 studio album by British band Cornershop. It was their first album in seven years following 2002's ''Handcream for a Generation''. The band were dropped by Beggars Banquet Records after disagreements ...
'' in July 2009, preceded by the single "The Roll-Off Characteristics (Of History in the Making)" in May on their own record label called Ample Play.
Recent years: 2011–present
In 2011, Cornershop were awarded a prize for Commitment to Scene in the
UK Asian Music Awards
The UK Asian Music Awards, also known by the abbreviation UK AMA, was an awards show that was held annually in the United Kingdom from 2002 to 2012. The awards show has been produced and broadcast by B4U Music since 2008. Awards winners were deci ...
.
An album ''
Cornershop and the Double 'O' Groove Of
''Cornershop and the Double 'O' Groove Of...'' is a 2011 studio album by the British band Cornershop. It follows their 2009 album '' Judy Sucks a Lemon for Breakfast''. The album had been six years in the making and is a collaboration album with ...
'', a collaboration with Punjabi folk singer
Bubbley Kaur, was released in March 2011 to critical acclaim in the UK. The band also set up the Singhles Club Club, a subscription service featuring a series of musically diverse collaborations and exclusive digital artwork.
The band's eighth album ''
Urban Turban
''Urban Turban'' (subtitled ''Urban Turban - The Singhles Club'') is a 2012 studio album by the British band Cornershop (band), Cornershop. It follows their 2011 album ''Cornershop and the Double 'O' Groove Of''. Like their previous effort, the a ...
'' was released on 14 May 2012 and the ninth album ''
Hold On It's Easy
''Hold On It's Easy'' is a 2015 studio album by the British band Cornershop. It consists of easy listening re-recordings of tracks from the band's 1994 album ''Hold On It Hurts'', with the Elastic Big Band.Walsh, James (2015)Interview: An underra ...
'' was released on 2 February 2015. In July 2015 they released a single "Pinpoint" with Welsh singer Angharad Van Rijswijk aka Accü
In 2017 they gave an instrumental track called 'Demon is a Monster' to the anti-Brexit podcast '
Remainiacs
''Oh God, What Now?'' formally known as ''Remainiacs,'' is a British hour-long weekly political podcast about Brexit, speaking from the pro-Remain point of view. It was started on 26 May 2017 as ''Remainiacs'' after the 2016 United Kingdom Europe ...
' to use as a theme tune. The track was then released digitally. Cornershop were fiercely anti-Brexit. In March 2020, they released a new album, ''
England Is a Garden
''England Is a Garden'' is a studio album by British indie rock band Cornershop. It was released on 6 March 2020 under the band's own label, Ample Play Records.
The first single from the album, "No Rock: Save in Roll" was released on 26 Novembe ...
'' to generally positive reviews. The first official video from the album accompanying the track 'St Marie under Canon' was released in February 2020.
Band members
;Current members
* Tjinder Singh – vocals, guitars, bass, dholki
(1991–present)
* Ben Ayres – guitars, tamboura, keyboards, tambourine, vocals
(1991–present)
* Nick Simms – drums, vocals
(1995–present)
* Peter Bengry – percussion
(1995–present)
* Adam Blake – sitar, guitars
(2009–present)
* Pete Downing – guitars
(2009–present)
* James Milne – bass
;Former members
* Avtar Singh – bass, guitars, vocals
(1991–1995)
* David Chambers – drums
(1991–1995)
* Anthony "Saffs" Saffery – sitar, guitars, keyboards
(1994–2002)
* Wallis Healey – guitars
(1994–1995)
* Pete Hall – percussion
(1995)
Discography
Albums
Compilations
Singles and EPs
References
Further reading
Cornershop's Tjinder Singh: 'My dad said, 'They’ll not always want you here'. That stuck by Jude Rogers. ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
''. 1 March 2020
External links
*
{{Authority control
Musical groups established in 1991
1991 establishments in the United Kingdom
English alternative rock groups
Alternative dance musical groups
English indie rock groups
Britpop groups
Rough Trade Records artists
Musical groups from Leicester