Andy Cato

Andrew Derek Cocup Sr. (born 7 June 1973), known professionally as Andy Cato, is an English musician, record producer and DJ who is currently one half of the electronic music band Groove Armada, the other half being Tom Findlay. He was also involved with Rachel Foster in Weekend Players, another electronic dance group, between 2001 and 2004. His stage name of Cato derives from Cato Road in Clapham, South London, where he lived.

Andy Cato
Background information
Birth nameAndrew Derek Cocup
Also known as
  • Caia
  • Journey Man DJ
  • Andy Cocup
  • Big C
  • System The
  • Seventh Sense
Born (1973-06-07) 7 June 1973
Barnsley, Yorkshire, England
OriginLondon, England
GenresElectronica
Instruments
Years active1996–present
LabelsColumbia UK
Associated acts
Websitetherealfoodfight.uk

Early life

Cato grew up in Badsworth, near Pontefract, and played the trombone in the Grimethorpe Colliery Band,[1] as well as the Doncaster Youth Jazz Orchestra and won the Young Jazz Musician of the Year Award in 1996. He was educated at Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, an independent school for boys in Wakefield, followed by Merton College, Oxford, where he read Modern History. At school he was a prolific musician, frequently performing and leading on school shows such the Carol concert or as a pianist at school assembly. He often wrote his own songs e.g. "Christmas means to me - presents round the tree", from an early age.

Groove Armada

After Oxford, he moved to London, where he began acting as a disc jockey at nightclubs such as Fabric where he started in the upstairs bar, and composing music. He set up the label Skinny Malinky, which produced records under various aliases included Big C, Mother's Pride, Vadis, Beat Foundation, Fatback Boogaloo and Qattara (with Alex Whitcombe).[2]

He formed the successful Groove Armada after he met Tom Findlay in 1994 in Cambridge, through a common friend who was his girlfriend (and now his wife), Jo, whom he met at Oxford. In London they had a dance night called Captain Sensual at the Helm of the Groove Armada. In 2003 they started the Lovebox Festival, named after the club night they started in London venue 93 Feet East in 2002.

Personal life

In 2008 Cato moved with his family to Gascony in France. In 2013 they acquired a 100-hectare farm, where they now grow organic no-till crops and raise livestock in pasture. Cato is now a full-time farmer (therealfoodfight.uk), but he still finds time to DJ, with occasional gigs in the UK and Ibiza and regular DIY releases.[3]

References
  1. Simpson, Dave (20 November 2018). "Groove Armada: how we made At the River". theguardian.com. Retrieved 29 November 2018.
  2. Profile, discogs.com; accessed 9 July 2016.
  3. , Financial Times Interview, January 2017.
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