Men from big bands plan their own blitz
THE SMITHS BASSIST TEAMING UP WITH LEICESTER MUSICIAN KAV SANDHU
THE bassist on classic Smiths songs This Charming Man and Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now has launched a new band with an exHappy Mondays guitarist from Leicester.
Andy Rourke – a founding member of The Smiths along with Morrissey, Johnny Marr and Mike Joyce until they split in 1987 – is working with Kav Sandhu on a new project called Blitz Vega.
Kav, who grew up in Aylestone, spent four years touring the world with the Happy Mondays in the mid2000s.
Now living in Los Angeles, Leicester music fans will also remember him as the frontman of AKA Weave and Sonic Audio.
Blitz Vega are currently recording their debut album at HOB Studios on the American west coast and look set to release their debut single in the New Year.
In a brief note to the Leicesterr Mercury, Kav said: “We haven’t put anything out to press yet as we are just recording the album at the mo. “The project will launch next year.” He once said: “I’ve been lucky enough to lead a colourful life – there have been good and bad, ups and downs – but it’s never been boring.”
According to the few details there are so far about the band – which gives its address as “Manchester, Leicester, New York and Los Angeles” – live dates and tracks will be “coming soon”.
Once described as “a latter-day Jagger” by The Guardian, Kav grew up in Leicester secretly listening to his auntie’s Beatles, Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan records and was further inspired by seeing Oasis at Granby Halls. Too young to get a ticket, he said he “managed to blag a job decorating the dressing room” which enabled him to see his heroes.
He went on to meet Shaun Ryder and Bez through his “Groove Harder” club night and convinced them to reform baggy heroes The Happy Mondays for his “Get Loaded” festival on London’s Clapham Common.
He also got them back in the recording studio to record their first album for 15 years – 2008’s Uncle Dysfunktional – before splitting after four years with the band to concentrate on his solo work, a bluesy racket that drew comparisons with Iggy and The Stooges.
He has had support slots with Kasabian and got to know Rourke in LA.
As well as being a member of The Smiths, Andy Rourke played on some of Morrissey’s singles, but then went on to sue him over The Smiths’ royalty payments.
He has played bass with Bolton’s Badly Drawn Boy and Manchester’s Ian Brown.
Once described as “a latter-day Jagger” by The Guardian, Kav grew up in Leicester listening to his auntie’s records