Twenty Five – Groove Armada
We met up with Groove Armada at their rehearsal studio as they began preparing for their upcoming UK tour. To celebrate 25 years of touring, the legendary duo call time on their legendary live show – one of the last opportunities to see their career spanning hits played in venues around the UK. After a 10 year hiatus, Tom Findlay and Andy Cato have made a huge comeback with their latest record Edge of Horizon.
Interview Daniel Vildosola Photography JC Verona
A lot has happened in those ten years. Tom qualified as a cognitive behavioural therapist meanwhile Andy has been working as a farmer in France developing Wildfarmed Grain – an organic, minimal till, mixed farming system focused on building soil fertility and biodiversity. He claims “If we can change the world’s soils for the better, we can solve most of our major societal problems”
Inspiring as always, it was a pleasure sitting down to speak with them at length.
How many hangovers do you think your music has been responsible for?
Tom - Ah man a lot…..personally speaking I’d say about 500. Then multiply that by the number of people who has come to our shows and by the numbers of shows we’ve done and the figure I’ve come to is 12 Million, give or take 500.
Groove Armada has had such an amazing career spanning 25 years. What would you say has been the key to staying relevant for so many years now?
T - I’m not sure we are especially ‘relevant’ now. Essentially though the thing that has really sustained us over the years is that we put so much love and effort and attention into our shows. For a period of probably a decade we got pretty obsessed with nailing a live dance sound, and that was stressful at times. But it was worth it, that ability to connect with people live, and at some of the biggest festivals in the world is probably our superpower.
“The thing that has really sustained us over the years is that we put so much love and effort and attention into our shows.”
How has your working relationship with Andy evolved over the years?
T - For the first four albums we made we were pretty inseparable. We’d spend months at a time together in the studio, then on the road, it was pretty intense. But life changes, you have families, you develop other interests, your priorities change. Andy left the UK around 2005/6 and from then we’ve tended to work separately and then come together for days at a time to finish tracks off together. It’s probably good for the relationship.
Congratulations on the new record — It’s quite a feat releasing a full length album during pandemic! What drew you to make this album after a lengthy hiatus?
T - Thank you. Obviously it’s not that new now. I think we were gigging again, doing a sort of 21st anniversary tour and some ideas started to develop around that. Before you know it, you’re writing an album and then it becomes a bit of an obsession again! We have a 25th anniversary collection coming out, re-masters of all the big ‘hits’ and 4/5 new tracks, so that’s something to get a bit excited about again.
How was this new record made in comparison to your last full length release?
Andy has been living in France, I never left Stoke Newington in London. So the same process as our last few albums, working on ideas separately then coming together to mix down the final project. As it always does it takes way longer than you anticipated, and while we’re writing this Andy is still a farmer, and a baker. So it’s pretty manic, lots of late nights, early starts. But we have some fun along the way.
“We came up with that hook using the same process, cans of Red Stripe in the moment, tea in the editing suite.”
Is it normal for you to create tracks from vocal outtakes like you did for this track?
T - Actually yes. We’ve always done a lot of editing on the vocalists we’ve worked with over the years. The track you’re talking about ‘Get out on the Dancefloor’ is made up of outtakes from tracks we did with Nick Littlemore in 2010. He really works like that, ideas coming at you constantly, really spontaneous, so you just keep recording to capture the magic then make some sense of it later with a cup of tea. But even going back to ‘I see you Baby’ we came up with that hook using the same process, cans of Red Stripe in the moment, tea in the editing suite.
You’ve collaborated with such a diverse roster of musicians over the years. Is there anyone else you’re eager to collaborate with?
T - Not really. I’m always listening to new music, I’m a total audiophile even now, so we do have some nice collaborations we’re working on for a GA25 album coming out in Nov this year….but more on the up and coming angle…..I can’t give you their names though as we haven’t quite finished the tracks. Sorry.
Having worked with so many different personalities; do you think this skillset has helped in becoming a cognitive behavioural therapist?
T -Not really no. I mean everything you experience in life you can bring into a therapeutic setting in one way or another. The qualities though you expect of a therapist, being non judgmental, compassionate, empathetic, can be really helpful in studios and out on the road that’s for sure.
Can you tell us about this what inspired you to explore this new career?
T - I had my own issues with Mental Health in 2010, I struggled with depression for a year, maybe longer. For a long time I didn’t even really know what the malaise was, I don’t think it was talked about as openly as it is now. Eventually I got some help via the NHS and even though it was just a few sessions I found the way CBT understands the thinking-feeling-behaviour relationship really made sense to me, and to my experience of depression. From there I just got really interested, did a Masters is Psychology and then studied to be a CBT therapist. I started working as a therapist for the NHS just after the first lockdown and still am, so it’s been quite a ride.
Groove Armada is one of a select few dance acts which utilises a live band (which I respect massively). What was the motivation for that?
We both grew up playing in bands, Andy to a much better level than me, so we just couldn’t imagine standing up their in front of laptops and a mixing desk. I’m really pleased we made the effort because 25 years of that would have been pretty dull.
Can we expect Groove Armada to return to playing live with the full band again?
Yes on the upcoming UK shows in April…then festivals this Summer! It’s all there on the website! https://www.groovearmada.com/
Thank you so much for having us and I hope this last tour is remarkable.
My pleasure.
THE LAST FULL LIVE UK TOUR APRIL 2022
5th - Glasgow - Barrowland
7th - Leeds - O2 Academy
8th - Birmingham - O2 Academy
9th - Manchester - Victoria Warehouse
10th - Bristol - Motion
14th - Bournemouth - O2 Academy
15th - Cardiff - University Great Hall
16th - London - Brixton O2 Academy
17th - London - Brixton O2 Academy
Many thanks to Marc Jeanneret
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