Cornershop

Best known for “Brimful of Asha”, the Fatboy Slim remix of which hit #1 in 1998, British rock band Cornershop have an eclectic and fiercely creative discography.

The band formed in 1991. Frontman and lead songwriter Tjinder Singh had recently relocated to Leicester to be closer to his brother Avtar. They were joined by Dave Chambers, who had played drums for their old band General Havoc, and guitarist Ben Ayers.

Their debut LP, Hold On It Hurts, was noise-pop tinged with traditional Indian music. It won a high-profile fan: David Byrne gave them a record deal, without Chambers.

Women’s Gotta Have It and When I Was Born To The Seventh Time had more accessible sounds, and achieved moderate success. The remix of “Brimful Of Asha” could have catapulted them to stardom.

Instead, the band disappeared for five years. As Clinton, Ben and Tjinder released a disco album, Disco and the Halfway to Discontent, in 2000. They re-emerged as Cornershop in 2002, without Avtar, but with Noel Gallagher and Paul McGuigan making guest appearances on guitar. Plunderphonic rock album Handcream For A Generation was well-received.

The band were once again perilously close to recognition, so they went on hiatus for even longer, disappearing until 2009. Their next album, Judy Sucks A Lemon For Breakfast, was glorious upbeat indie pop.

The band finally established a regular release schedule, but eschewed any musical consistency. 2011’s Cornershop and the Double ‘O’ Groove Of was a Punjabi collaboration with unknown Preston vocalist Bubbley Kaur. Urban Turban followed in 2012, collecting the eclectic collaboration singles the band had released in the last few years in their “Singhles Club”. Then in 2015, they re-recorded their debut as an easy listening album called Hold On It’s Easy.

What this band will do next is anyone’s guess.