Robyn Hitchcock

Robyn Hitchcock
Live @ Iron Horse., Northampton, MA 3/28/2005
Background information
Born	3 March 1953 (1953-03-03)
Genres	Alternative rock, Jangle pop, Psych folk
Occupations	Musician, actor
Instruments	Guitar, piano
Associated acts	Soft Boys Robyn Hitchcock and the Egyptians The Venus 3
Website	http://robynhitchcock.com

Robyn Rowan Hitchcock (born 3 March 1953) is an English singer-songwriter and guitarist. While primarily a vocalist and guitarist, he also plays harmonica, piano and bass guitar.

Coming to prominence in the late 1970s with The Soft Boys, Hitchcock afterward launched a prolific solo career. Hitchcock's musical and lyrical styles have been influenced by the likes of Bob Dylan, John Lennon and Syd Barrett. Hitchcock's lyrics tend to include surrealism, comedic elements, characterisations of English eccentrics, and melancholy depictions of everyday life.

He was signed to two major American labels (A&M Records, then Warner Brothers) over the course of the 1980s and '90s, but mainstream success has been limited. Still, he has maintained a loyal cult following and has often earned strong critical reviews over a steady stream of album releases and live performances.

Biography

Hitchcock at Coolidge Corner Theatre in 2010

Early life and recording career

Born Robyn Hitchcock in London, England and educated at Winchester College, he began his recording career in 1976 with the Cambridge-based punk/New Wave band The Soft Boys, a local group with an interest in the odd concept of 'psychedelic punk'. After the group broke up in 1981, Hitchcock began recording as a solo artist.

1980s

Hitchcock released his solo debut, Black Snake Diamond Röle in 1981, which more or less replicated the sound of his previous band, as it featured instrumental backing by several former Soft Boys. He followed it in 1982 with the generally critically maligned Groovy Decay, a record which he would ultimately disown. Following his solo acoustic album I Often Dream Of Trains in 1984, he formed a new band, The Egyptians, comprising former members of The Soft Boys (Andy Metcalfe and Morris Windsor, supplemented at first by early keyboardist Roger Jackson), resulting in their 1985 debut Fegmania!, which featured typically surrealist Hitchcock songs such as "My Wife and My Dead Wife" and "The Man with the Lightbulb Head". (A live album, Gotta Let This Hen Out!, was released at the end of that year.) Their popularity grew with the 1986 album Element of Light and they were subsequently signed to A&M Records in the U.S. The album Globe of Frogs, released in 1988, further expanded their reach, as the single "Balloon Man" became a college radio and MTV hit, followed in 1989 by "Madonna Of The Wasps" from their Queen Elvis album. In 1989 they also teamed up with Peter Buck of R.E.M. and Peter Holsapple of The dB's, playing two gigs as Nigel and the Crosses, mostly covers. The Crosses also had their cover of "Wild Mountain Thyme" included on a Byrds tribute album, though Hitchcock always alluded to the Bryan Ferry version when performing it live with the Egyptians.

1990s

At the beginning of the decade, Hitchcock took a break from the Egyptians and A&M Records to release another solo acoustic album, Eye, then resumed with the band's Perspex Island release in 1991. 1993's Respect, influenced a great deal by his father's death, marked the last Egyptians release and the end of his association with A&M Records. Early in 1994, after disbanding the Egyptians, he embarked on a short reunion tour with The Soft Boys. His work received a slight boost in 1995 when his back catalogue (including both solo releases and Egyptians albums) were re-packaged and re-issued in the United States by the respected Rhino Records label. For the rest of the decade he continued recording and performing as a solo artist, releasing several albums on Warner Brothers Records, such as 1996's Moss Elixir (which featured the contributions of violinist Deni Bonet and guitarist Tim Keegan), and the soundtrack from the Jonathan Demme-directed concert film Storefront Hitchcock in 1998. The 1999 release Jewels for Sophia, also on Warner, featured cameos from Southern California-based musicians Jon Brion and Grant-Lee Phillips, both of whom often shared the stage with Hitchcock when he played Los Angeles nightclub Largo. An album of outtakes from the Sophia sessions called A Star For Bram, released on Hitchcock's own label, followed, and his subsequent albums appeared on a variety of independent labels.

2000s

In 2001, Hitchcock reunited and toured with Kimberley Rew, bassist Matthew Seligman, and Morris Windsor for the Soft Boys' re-release of their best-known album, 1980's Underwater Moonlight. The following year they recorded and released a new album, Nextdoorland, which was accompanied by a short album of outtakes, Side Three. The reunion proved to be short-lived, although they did re-form again in 2006 to perform a live concert of Syd Barrett-era Pink Floyd covers in London, benefiting Médecins Sans Frontières.

During a short tour with Grant-Lee Phillips of Grant Lee Buffalo, Hitchcock co-produced and co-starred in a concert film of the tour shot in Seattle titled Elixirs & Remedies.

The 2002 double album Robyn Sings comprised cover versions of Bob Dylan songs, including a live re-creation (performed in 1996) of Dylan's so-called Live at the Royal Albert Hall 1966 concert. Hitchcock celebrated his 50th birthday in 2003 with a concert at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London at which his then-new solo acoustic album Luxor was given away as a gift to all those attending, and an original poem of his was read by actor Alan Rickman. He continued collaborating with a series of different musicians, as on the album Spooked, which was recorded with country/folk duo (and longtime Hitchcock fans) Gillian Welch and David Rawlings. In 2006 Olé! Tarantula was released with The Venus 3, a band which consisted of longtime friends and collaborators R.E.M.'s Peter Buck and Young Fresh Fellows' frontman Scott McCaughey, as well as Ministry's Bill Rieflin (by then also R.E.M.'s full-time drummer). The song "'Cause It's Love (Saint Parallelogram)" was written with Andy Partridge of XTC.

In 2007, he was the subject of a documentary Robyn Hitchcock: Sex, Food, Death... and Insects directed by John Edginton, shown on the U.S. Sundance Channel and in the UK on BBC Four (and later released on DVD). "Food, sex and death are all corridors to life if you like. You need sex to get you here, you need food to keep you here and you need death to get you out and they’re the entry and exit signs."

The filmmaker eavesdrops on Hitchcock at work on his latest collection of songs with contributors including Nick Lowe, former Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones, Peter Buck and Gillian Welch. The film culminates with Hitchcock and the band taking the songs on the road in America. A live EP with The Venus 3, Sex, Food, Death... and Tarantulas, was released in conjunction with the documentary. The film also includes candid interviews with Hitchcock, who reveals much about the source of his work: "At heart I'm a frightened angry person. That's probably why my stuff isn’t totally insubstantial. I'm constantly, deep down inside, in a kind of rage."

Late in 2007, Hitchcock's music was again re-packaged and re-released in the U.S., as Yep Roc Records began an extensive reissue campaign with three early solo releases and a double-CD compilation of rarities, which would be available separately or as part of a new boxed set release, I Wanna Go Backwards.

In 2008, that boxed set was followed up with Luminous Groove, a boxed set of three early Egyptians releases and two further discs of rarities. In 2009, the electro-pop artist and remixer Pocket released an EP featuring Hitchcock called "Surround Him With Love", while Hitchcock released an entirely separate new album, Goodnight Oslo, with the Venus 3. At the end of the year, a live album called I Often Dream Of Trains In New York documented the late-2008 onstage re-creation of his acclaimed 1984 acoustic album (a limited-edition deluxe version also included the materials to construct a kind of moving-image generator called a phenokistoscope).

2010s

Concurrent with the redesign of his official website in early 2010, Hitchcock began to offer an occasional series of "Phantom 45s" as downloads, each "45" being two newly-recorded songs that would initially be offered as a free download. He also released the Propellor Time album, containing new material partially based on the "Sex, Food, Death" sessions shown in the 2007 documentary, but mainly featuring the Venus 3. In 2011, he released Tromsø, Kaptein, an album of songs written in Norway, and released physically only in that country. Robyn was chosen by Jeff Mangum of Neutral Milk Hotel to perform "I Often Dream Of Trains" at the All Tomorrow's Parties festival, to be curated by Mangum in March 2012 in Minehead, England.

Interests

Additionally, Hitchcock has an interest in acting, literature and art. He writes short stories, paints (often in a whimsical, surrealist style) and draws in the cartoon-strip mode. Many of Hitchcock's album covers bear his paintings or drawings, and his albums' liner notes sometimes include a printed short story. His live concerts usually include a considerable amount of story-telling, in the form of imaginative and surreal ad-libbed monologues in his lyrical style.

Hitchcock collaborated with director Jonathan Demme in 1998 for a live concert and film Storefront Hitchcock, and later appeared in Demme's 2004 remake of The Manchurian Candidate, in which he played double agent Laurent Tokar. He also appeared in Demme's Rachel Getting Married in 2008, singing and playing guitar in the wedding-party band.

In September 2008 Hitchcock joined the Disko Bay Cape Farewell expedition to the West Coast of Greenland. Cape Farewell is a UK based arts organisation that brings artists, scientists and communicators together to instigate a cultural response to climate change. Other voyagers on the trip included musicians Jarvis Cocker, KT Tunstall and Martha Wainwright.

Personal

Robyn is the son of novelist Raymond Hitchcock and the brother of artist Lal Hitchcock. He is not related to Alfred Hitchcock.

Album discography

Releases marked "with the Egyptians" are credited on the album as by "Robyn Hitchcock & The Egyptians". Similarly, releases marked "with the Venus 3" are credited on the album as by "Robyn Hitchcock & The Venus 3". Others are credited as solo albums, although they may contain some group recordings.

Original studio albums

• Black Snake Diamond Röle, 1981
• Groovy Decay, 1982
• I Often Dream of Trains, 1984
• Fegmania!, 1985 (with the Egyptians)
• Element of Light, 1986 (with the Egyptians)
• Globe of Frogs, 1988 (with the Egyptians)
• Queen Elvis, 1989 (with the Egyptians)
• Eye, 1990
• Perspex Island, 1991 (with the Egyptians)
• Respect, 1993 (with the Egyptians)
• Moss Elixir, 1996
• Jewels for Sophia, 1999
• Luxor, 2003
• Spooked, 2004
• Olé! Tarantula, 2006 (with the Venus 3)
• Goodnight Oslo, 2009 (with the Venus 3)
• Propellor Time, 2010 (with the Venus 3)
• Tromsø, Kaptein, 2011

Compilations of rarities, demos, alternate takes and out-takes

• Groovy Decoy (A re-worked version of Groovy Decay, featuring demo versions of many of that album's songs), 1985
• Invisible Hitchcock (Outtakes and rarities, 1980–1986), 1986
• Gravy Deco (A compilation of the Groovy Decay and Groovy Decoy sessions), 1995
• You & Oblivion (Outtakes and rarities, 1981–1987), 1995
• Mossy Liquor ("Outtakes and prototypes" from Moss Elixir), 1996
• A Star for Bram (Outtakes from Jewels for Sophia), 2000
• Obliteration Pie (Japan-only collection of live tracks, rarities, and new studio re-recordings), 2005
• I Wanna Go Backwards (Boxed set of reissues and rarities), 2007
• Shadow Cat (Outtakes and rarities, 1993–1999), 2008
• Luminous Groove (Boxed set of reissues and rarities), 2008

Live albums

• Gotta Let This Hen Out!, 1985 (with the Egyptians)
• Give It To The Thoth Boys - Live Oddities, 1993 (Cassette only release sold on tour 1993) (with the Egyptians)
• The Kershaw Sessions, 1994 (with the Egyptians)
• Storefront Hitchcock, 1998
• Storefront Hitchcock L.P., 1998
• Live at the Cambridge Folk Festival, 1998 (with the Egyptians)
• Robyn Sings, 2002 (Double live album of Bob Dylan cover songs)
• This is the BBC, 2006
• Sex, Food, Death... and Tarantulas (Live EP), 2007
• I Often Dream of Trains in New York, (CD+DVD), 2009

Best-of compilations

• Robyn Hitchcock, 1995
• Robyn Hitchcock & The Egyptians: Greatest Hits, 1996 (with the Egyptians)
• Uncorrected Personality Traits (Rhino Records best-of compilation of solo material), 1997

Compilation appearances

• Time Between - A Tribute to The Byrds (Imaginary Records), 1989
• Pave The Earth (A&M Records), 1990
• More Oar: A Tribute to the Skip Spence Album (Birdman Records), 1999
• Ernie: Songs of Ernest Noyes Brookings (Gadfly Records), 2001
• Listen To What The Man Said - Popular Artists Pay Tribute to the Music of Paul McCartney (Oglio Records), 2001
• Wig in a Box (Off Records), 2003
• Terry Edwards Presents Queer Street (Sartorial Records), 2004
• I Want You (She's So Heavy) - Abbey Road Now! (Mojo Magazine Free CD), Oct 2009
• Dark Globe - The Madcap Laughs Again! (Mojo Magazine Free CD), Mar 2010

Further reading

• "Robyn Hitchcock: I wanna go Backwards" — an article at Crawdaddy!.
• "The Barrett/Hitchcock Connection" — an article at Perfect Sound Forever.
• Interview with Robyn Hitchcock with Andy Carvin in 1993.

External links

• The Museum of Robyn Hitchcock (official site)
• The Asking Tree: Robyn Hitchcock Discography and Gigography Database
• Otmoor Productions Documentary Robyn Hitchcock: Sex, Food, Death... and Insects
• fegMANIA! - Robyn Hitchcock news and information listserv
• The Glass Hotel - comprehensive site including "Glass Flesh" tribute project
• Robyn Hitchcock collection at the Internet Archive's live music archive