Dodgy

Dodgy were born from the ashes of Purple, a trio from Bromsgrove and Redditch, who had moved to London and was composed of Nigel Clark on bass, Mathew Priest on drums and David Griffiths on guitar. Shortly after their arrival in London in 1988, Frederic Colier joined the band as the bass guitarist, with Clark providing vocals. The new formation first settled in Battersea, using their living quarters as a rehearsal space. The quartet then relocated to a semi-detached house in Hounslow, where they turned the garage in the back garden into a sound proofed rehearsal room, using old wooden pallets and rolled up carpet stuffed into the gaps, then covered in extra carpet.

The band played in local pubs and small venues until cracks started to appear when Nigel and Mathew's direction compared negatively against Frederic and David's musical leanings.

Dissension led to the dismissal of Griffiths and Frederic, with Clark and Priest going it alone for the time being. The two decided that a guitarist was needed. So after placing an ad in the magazine Loot, the band invited Ben Lurie, a guitarist from Australia, to join them, only to see him leave them less than a week later to join The Jesus and Mary Chain. Shortly after they discovered guitarist Andy Miller, who came from Neasden (originally Northolt (an in-band joke)). Armed with this new venture, the band decided to change its name while on a heady night out.

Andy moved in with the boys in Hounslow in the early part of 1990. From then on the three of them were constantly in the garage, piecing songs together through Nigel's song writing from the night before. Their sound started to come together, not too far from what the band are now well known for, today.

Mathew, while out one night, became engrossed in a conversation with some guy who happened to manage bands. Mathew then popped a cassette tape demo of the band into the guy's jacket pocket, without him knowing anything about it. This chap turned out to be Andrew Winters. The next day, Andrew reached into his pocket, found the tape and played it, then rang the number included within the cassette case. They found their manager.

At the first Dodgy Club in Bacchus Wine Bar in Kingston Upon Thames, late 1990, they created a following. Playing every two weeks. Their popularity grew in many regards to Bacchus being well situated within a stone's throw of Twickenham College, Richmond College and Kingston College. Within 8 months of bi-weekly club nights at Bacchus, the boys had generated the interest of major recording and publishing labels. And in turn, some months into 1991, they signed a six album deal with A&M Records and signed publishing with BMG (after an arcade football game between Virgin and BMG exec's).[3]

Dodgy's debut album was produced by The Lightning Seeds' Ian Broudie.[3] The band concerned themselves with social issues by supporting The Serious Road Trip, War Child, the Liverpool Dockers' Strike, Charter 88 and youth democracy campaigns. The band became the second UK act, after China Drum, to play in Sarajevo after the lifting of the siege, giving a concert at Kuk club in August 1996. They returned to Bosnia in 1997, to film a programme with Kate Thornton in Mostar.

While Clark was absent from 1998 to 2007 to pursue ongoing solo projects, Priest and Miller continued the band as a five piece joined by the vocalist David Bassey, keyboardist Chris Hallam, and bassist Nick Abnett.[3] This line-up of the group would record one album, Real Estate, released in 2001, which was produced and mixed with Robin Evans at T-Pot Studios in Scotland. On their "Dingwalls to Dingwall" tour in 2000, the group visited the Hebridean island of Taransay, to entertain the castaways being filmed for a BBC reality television programme. Sadly when the BBC found out their plan to play on the island, they were ordered to leave without performing, much to the disappointment of some Castaways.

The original line-up of the band, Clark, Miller, and Priest, returned with a live album, So Far On 3 Wheels – Dodgy On The Radio, in October 2007. In the summer of 2007, the band announced a reunion tour, featuring the entire original line-up. These plans were abandoned however, when Miller fell out of bed, chipping a bone in his arm in the process. The rescheduled tour took place in March 2008.

The band played two sets at Guilfest music festival in Guildford, Surrey in July 2008. The first set was an acoustic set in the Unison tent where they appeared in support of the organisation. They later played a set with full band on the main stage. They headlined the Sunday night at Scarborough's Beached Festival in August 2008, and appeared at the ToneFest in September.

In November 2008, the first tracks from new recording sessions appeared online. They played a benefit show in May 2009, as part of the homelessness charity Crisis' 'Hidden Gigs' campaign, alongside The Bluetones.[4]

In 2009, Dodgy played at the Glastonbury Festival, as well as appearances at Bug Jam 2009, Whatfest and Cornbury.

On 29 August 2010, Dodgy played at The Galtres Festival in North Yorkshire, playing Dodgy tracks such as "In a Room" and "Staying out for the Summer", as well as a version of Nigel Clark's solo track, "21st Century Man".

On 23 April 2011, Dodgy played as the headliners at the Mash Fest Festival in Trowbridge and on 28 May 2011, Dodgy headlined at the LeeStock Music Festival in Sudbury, Suffolk, helping to raise money for the Willow Foundation.[5] Mathew Priest said in an interview with the BBC that they would be playing a mixture of new songs and old favourites and talking of their new material said "If we can just get people to listen to it, they're going to love it".[6] on 25 August 2011, Dodgy also Headlined at the Garlic Festival, in the Isle of Wight.

For live shows promoting the album, the band recruited Stuart Thoy of the band Smoke Feathers[7] to play bass.[8]

In May 2012 they played at Lakefest festival.[9]

"What Became of You" was the first single to be taken from Stand Upright in a Cool Place, their new album. Rather than following the trend of bands re-forming to play their classic albums in full, Dodgy announced that on their recent UK tour, it was their new album that would be previewed live in its entirety. The album was released 20 February 2012 via the independent Strikeback Records, to favourable reviews from MOJO, the Guardian [10] and Q Magazine.

Thoy would then join the band as a full member and participate in the recording of their fifth album, What Are We Fighting For, which was released on 2 September 2016.[11]

• Ace A's and Killer B's (1998) No. 55 UK
• The Collection (2004)[2]
• Good Enough – The Very Best of Dodgy (2014)

• So Far on 3 Wheels – Dodgy on the Radio (2007)
• Dodgy – Live at Cornbury Festival (2009)
• Dodgy Live – Back to Back (2013)

• "Summer Fayre" (1991)
• "Easy Way" (1991)
• "The Black and White Single" (1992)
• "Water Under the Bridge" (1993)
• "Lovebirds" (1993) No. 65
• I Need Another (EP) (1993) No. 67
• The Melod-EP (1994) No. 53
• "Staying Out for the Summer" (1994) No. 38
• "So Let Me Go Far" (1995) No. 30
• "Making the Most Of" (1995) (Dodgy with The Kick Horns) No. 22
• "Staying Out for the Summer" (remix) (1995) No. 19
• "In a Room" (1996) No. 12
• "Good Enough" (1996) No. 4
• "If You're Thinking of Me" (1996) No. 11
• "Found You" (1997) No. 19
• "Every Single Day" (1998) No. 32
• "Feathercuts and Monkeyboots" (2000) No. 88,[15]
• "(We All Need a Little) Liftin" (2001) No. 175
• Down in the Flood/Forgive Me (Club Tour Mix) (EP) (2008)[2]
• "What Became of You" (2012)
• "Only a Heartbeat" (2012)
• "This Love Is Bigger Than Both of Us" (2012)
• "California Gold" (2016)
• "What Are We Fighting For" (2016)

• "Forgive Me – Demo" (2008)
• "Down in the Flood" (2008)
• "Find a Place" – The Bootleg Series and Crisis Charity Download (2009)
• "Christmas at the Foodbank" (2013 charity release for The Trussell Trust)