Kav Sandhu

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copyedit = July 2008
unreferenced = June 2008
wikify = June 2008

Kav Sandhu is a British artist from Leicester. Kav launched his solo career in February 2008 with his band comprising Kavin Sandhu (guitar and vocals), Jim Portas (drums and backing vocals), Dan Gulino (bass) and Bobby Angels (slide guitar and harmonica).

Kav has recently been compared to “A Latter-day Jagger” by The Guardian (UK) and on his début EP he has been likened vocally with the likes of Bob Dylan, Shaun Ryder, Bobby Gillespie and Lou Reed. The music has been compared to The Stones "Sympathy For The Devil" hauled into the digital age by Death In Vegas, and likened to Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and the harder edge of Led Zeppelin.

Kav writes thought-provoking, meaningful songs, putting his unique modern stamp on authentic Rock N' Roll. His songs take you back to the roots of timeless song writing and epic album tracks.

The "Blaggers & Liars" EP, released April 21, is the first hint of Kav’s adventures this year; with another EP and his debut album to follow this summer.

History

Early days

Kav played in first early band whilst at school at the age of 14. By the age of 18, he was resident DJ at his local touring venue 'The Charlotte' in Leicester. He had also launched his own Leicester based club-night which showcased at The Edinburgh Festival in 1999, where he picked up the accolade of 'Best Young Promoter'.

Around this time, Kav's band AKA Weave' had caught the attention of some of the biggest UK Indie legends including Mani (Stone Roses/Primal Scream). Phil Smith, Oasis's Tour DJ, also spotted Kav playing a hometown gig. Consequently, Kav went on to launch a new touring club-night 'Groove harder' with Phil Smith and Mancunian Col. Mani and Phil started Ding as part of the night, AKA Weave were the resident band playing at midnight. Grooveharder became one of the UK's first 'Indie Superstar- DJ' touring club-nights. This was the early beginnings of a Guest Indie DJ craze, which has recently blown up in the UK.

AKA Weave continued to tour the UK, playing key gigs at venues such as The Astoria, Camden Underworld, Manchester Roadhouse, and also caught the eye of OASIS's ex-bassist Guigsy, who had recently parted with Oasis. At the age of 20, Kav and the band went off to record at the legendary Rockfield Studios in Monmouth, Wales with Guigsy. The band began to work on their debut album.

After Rockfield, the band continued to record independently at Manchester's Tessa Rossa Studios, where the likes of The Space Monkeys and Dust Junkies had recently recorded. The band went on a tour to promote their unfinished album. This tour featured Shaun Ryder and Bez as guest DJs and other indie legends such as Rick Witter from Shed Seven. Unbeknownst to Kav, this was the beginning of his close working relationship with the Happy Mondays.

At the age of 24, and after several years of hard graft, Kav split his band AKA Weave and moved to London. He took a break from band-life and dedicated the next 8-10 months to creating and co-promoting one of London's most successful indie Club-nights 'GETLOADED' at the legendary club Turnmills, second home to The Chemical Brothers and Tall Paul.

Kav had arrived at Turnmills and had introduced a Rock N' Roll element to the club, it was perfect timing with the rise of dance meets rock, the Indie-Electro movement. This was a start of a partnership with Turnmills MD and House promoter Danny Newman. Over the next 18 months, Kav brought Rock n Roll Royalty to GETLOADED including legendary Factory Records boss Tony Wilson, Howard Marks (Mr Nice), Clint Boon (Inspiral Carpets/ XFM) Peter Hook (New Order/ Joy Division), Annie Mac (Radio 1), Steve Lamacq (Radio 1/ 6Music), Carl Barat (Libertines/ Dirty Pretty Things) Beta Band, Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce (The Smiths), The Farm, Client, El Presidente and many more.

The Guardian hailed the night as “One of the most groundbreaking club-nights in the history of London clubbing” and TNT Magazine praised the 'novel' idea of "Bringing indie legends to DJ a clubnight...."

Six months later Getloaded launched its inaugral summer festival. 10,000 revellers descended on Clapham Common, for what was to become one of the biggest London indie festivals, and one of the earlier challengers to the mainstream UK festivals. " [http://www.getloadedinthepark.com Getloaded in The Park] " 2004 was awarded “Best New Festival” at the UK Festival Awards 2004, and this particular year marked the start of an independent festival craze, which continues to build year on year!

Happy Mondays

The headliner for “Getloaded in the Park 2004” was confirmed as the Happy Mondays, their first live gig in nearly five years. After touring with AKA Weave as a DJ, Shaun Ryder was aware of the talents of the band and when looking for a replacement guitarist, asked Kav to join the Happy Mondays on guitar, handing him the task of recruiting new band members to fit alongside original members Gary Whelan and Mark Berry “Bez”. Kav completed the new lineup of the Happy Mondays with ex AKA Weave band member Mikey Shine and Jonn Dunn and dance producer Dave Parkinson. The band then had less than four weeks to practice in advance of their big comeback gig. This was an exciting time and band morale was high. Shaun Ryder was quoted in the press as saying “Kav is the man who's helped me smile again”. The gig was a sell-out. On the back of this successful gig, The Mondays decided to continue touring live and eventually to record a new album.

Kav parted with Getloaded and “Getloaded In The Park” in 2006. The festival is now in its fourth sell-out year, with Iggy Pop and The Stooges headlining in 2008.

In summer 2005, Kav, who found it difficult sitting around between Happy Mondays tours, decided to start a new musical side-project [http://www.myspace.com/sonicaudio “SONIC AUDIO”] – indie meets electro. The band released a white label 12” Killing Yourself on London indie label Puregroove Records. Sonic Audio went on to play a small UK Tour and a legendary gig with Shaun Ryder at Glastonbury Festival, and playing a second gig stepping in for Ex-Libertine Carl Barat, at Alan McGee's Poptones stage.

That same summer, Hollywood producers for football film Goal!, asked the Happy Mondays to write the title track for their new film. Kav co-wrote the track “Playground Superstar” with Shaun Ryder, Gaz Whelan and producer Dave Parkinson, and this became the bands first recorded material in over a decade, released on Big Brother Records (Noel and Liam Gallagher's label). After this initial release, it became clear the Happy Mondays were to start working on a new studio album, and Kav decided to dedicate his 100% to the Happy Mondays. Sonic Audio were consequently put on (permanent) hold.

Happy Mondays subsequently toured the world, including Fuji Rock 2006 and 2007, Coachella Festival, Roskilde Festival, Summercase Madrid and Barcelona, Global Gathering, Getloaded festivals, a huge hometown gig at MEN Arena, Brixton Academy and V Festival, to name but a few.

Kav spent any spare time, playing DJing worldwide, including Japan, Mexico, South America, Europe, and playing on the same line-ups as Guns & Roses and Bob Dylan and on one major Australian tour playing on the same lineup as the legendary 'Godfather of Soul' James Brown.

In 2006, Happy Mondays headed in to the studio to write their new album 'Unkle Dysfunktional', and Kav was invited to continue co-writing with original members Shaun and Gaz. The completed album featured artists such as Ry Cooder and LA rapper Mickey Avalon and was released on Sanctuary Records in summer 2007. The band continued their worldwide touring.

After Happy Mondays

In August 2007, after V Festival, Kav decided it was time to part company with Happy Mondays and pursue his solo project. Never one to sit around, a week later Kav was guesting with Norweigan dance-rockers Datarock at Reading and Leeds festivals plus some key London shows.

Kav decided to hook up with long-term partner in crime (& friend from the age of 12), James 'Jim' Portas and headed to London's legendary Fortress Studios, where the likes of BRMC, Primal Scream, The Rakes, Jagz Kooner and Kasabian have all recorded. The creative juices were flowing and Kav (drums) started producing his most exciting material to date, working alongside producer Mark Waterman and jack-of-all-trades Bolty.

In January 2008, Kav officially announced this new project – The simply titled "KAV".. On the 21st April, Kav released his debut EP [http://www.myspace.com/kavsonic "Blaggers & Liars"] to much critical acclaim. He describes his new material as “a result of my life experience, everything to date that makes me who I am. Everything else has got me here, kind of like an apprenticeship and this is where it all begins”.

The band will be releasing their follow-up EP, 'EP 2', in July, which includes an Infadels remix of "Blaggers & Liars". They are currently finishing off the final tracks on their debut album. Having spent a month in LA in February, Kav will be heading back stateside in August for a few months, continuing to tour North America.

References