These 4 put Cornershop onto the map at the same time as the Riot Grrrl Scene, of which they were given honorary membership, changing the musical industry landscape forever, leaving stages trashed, posters burnt, and minds blown.
This T-shirt as designed by Nick Edwards the group’s long time graphics designer is made from quality organic cotton.
Cornershop was started up with 4 founders, and this Names T-shirt err names them. This is handy as everyone will ask you what your T-shirt means. The drummer was called David Chambers as you all know. He created our famous TOKEN HONKY T-shirts, and goes here by his stage/fanzine handle name David ‘Hellbastard’ C. Avtar is the brother of Tjinder, and Benedict and Tjinder studied together.
Available in menswear in EU Letter sizes (US sizes choose a size up), from XXS to XXXL.
A little while back Tjinder answered questions for Dave at Barmcake Magazine
The questions:
I saw Cornershop at the Wheatsheaf,
Stoke in 1993 or 94. It was a thrilling gig – punky, raw and a bit
unpredictable. What were your ambitions for the band at that point? Were you
hankering after making more complex songs then? Did you regard When I Was Born
For the 7th Time as a huge leap forward from your early stuff?
Ah Stoke Wheatsheaf, a regular stop off for groups touring the UK in the
90s.
At that stage we only thought about finishing one gig after another. As a touring unit the off stage part of touring was very upbeat yet unpredictable too. Everyday offers of interviews, tv, gigs and general support were coming through to our label Wiiija.
In terms of songs, there was no hurry to move away from what was
happening, but having said that all the songs we did were different, &
that’s why in the longer term our songs were augmented with other
instrumentation. The Women’s Gotta Have It LP was a stepping stone up
from Hold On It Hurts, & When I Was Born For The 7th time was a further
step up from that. It’s a story that reflects how the band moved
on, and a story that was very different to any other band, being DIY
independent, Anglo Bubbley & Asian, and political.
Elastica and Echobelly were
on in the same venue around that time. Did you feel you had anything in common
with some of the bands who were emerging at the time? Do you have a sense that
some indie music was about to go mainstream?
As we sporadically came to London, we mainly got on with the groups we knew prior to arriving. This was mainly the Riot Grrl Scene of which we were honorary members, members being the operative word. Then we generally we got on with everyone. I used to stay with Dan Treacy and Alison Wonderland for a while, and we all stayed in a house on the Camden Road with a lovely Asian girl called Inder.
USA bands were the mainstream indie music, but we only had the sense
that as a group we were slowly getting bigger ourselves and before you knew it
we were having tea with our traducers.
I’ve always loved your voice – it’s full of warmth and is instantly
recognisable. Did you ever sing at school or family gatherings when you were a
kid? When was the first time you sang in public? Apart from your brother Avtar,
were your family musical?
That’s really too kind of you about the voice but most welcome.
Never sang at school other than hymns at Assembly of mixed up
colour people. My family wasn’t too musical yet both my father and uncle
started doing music quite late in life. I never sang in public on my own
until we had our first live gig, & even then I think it was the Slalom beer
singing.
When you and Ben first met in Garstang
Road, Preston, did you bond over music? If so, what songs/bands were important
for both of you? How long have you known each and how would you describe each
other?
We were the first people each other of us met at the polytechnic on the
doorstep of a rather grand house we would be sharing with 12 other young chaps,
under the tutelage of a vicar and his family whom resided on the first foor.
However, we really got on in the first term of a second year when we left
that house for Eldon Street. Ben has stolen his mother’s guitar and I
bought a junior sized bass and Wem amp. I would describe Ben as a shy
chap that only warms to people after 2 cups of tea. But he is kind and
descent, if there is anyone who doesn’t like him you know off the Gunn &
Moore they are most probably a tosspot. As for what he thinks of me you will
never know for we are behind this articles deadline time…sorry bout that.
How do you make music now? Do you start
with a simple melody or one line of lyrics and build it up from there? Do you
complete the song in your studio and then ask Ben for input?
I have always started songs and then they are augmented by Ben or
other people. As we all see each other less, if an idea comes up I record
it, I have a studio downstairs and then if it sticks it will get finished.
Sometimes it’s less satisfying than having a band around everyday, but I hope
to get back to that way of working now we are all more settled. Songs can
start from a lyric or melody of a sample or a feeling or a mistake. There
is no end to how they start, just a start to how they end.
Are you working on a new LP now? If so,
when will it be out?
We are getting to the end of a very drawn out album. This is
because I was not too well a few years back, that’s why we concentrated on our
ample play label to help time and recovery take place but still be progressing.
As to when will it be our we are not sure as yet.
As co-founder of Ample Play Records,
what advice do you give other artistes?
I think it’s good to give as little advise as possible, but as much help
in areas you can see being of benefit. The main thing with the label has
been having total confidence in our artistes and however they have progressed
we still feel they deserve more, & hope they get it. Also the groups
we have chosen add to what we are about as a music group too. It’s all
part of our story.
You’ve used the word ‘wog’ in song
titles, interviews and on Twitter. It’s one of those words that makes me wince,
perhaps because it’s associated with the worst of 70s racism. Are you trying to
nullify its shock value by using it? How long was your suspension from Twitter
for using the word? Was there any kind of appeal process where you could
explain why you were using it?
Wog stands for Western Oriental Gentleman/Gentlewoman so it’s quite
dignified when not used in ? form.
I do think it’s a case of reclaiming the word, but importantly I think
it’s a case of not getting hung up on certain words. For instance Blacks or
Coloured or whatever it is, are just words and when we take the heat out of
them which can take enough time in itself, then they roll over like a pussy cat
and we can get on with the hoovering.
The suspension was for 3 weeks I think, I did not refute it, but I did
have a very clean carpet by the end of it.
I live in Huddersfield and for the
first time in years I heard on the street an old man tell a group of women to
speak English (one of the women told him in broad Yorkshire exactly what she
thought of him!). Do you think the Brexit vote has made racists more openly
hostile or is it to do with the pooh-poohing of political correctness and
aggressive language of the tabloids that has caused incidents like this?
Huddersfield, I knew it quite well. I think Brexit is all about
getting the nig nogs out and nothing but. Social and transmitted media
has helped make it more acceptable as they sort to get equal reactions from
both racist and non racists. Sadly, just because you are black it does
not stop you from learning from the oppression you have suffered and many
blacks are part of this racism. We could not have guessed that the melting
pot is a pot that boils down to forgetting. Brexit is Powelism, and I was
born in the Black Country which is why Cornershop songs have always rallied
against Enoch, for we never saw it go away.
Did you ever have any communication
with Morrissey about burning his posters? Did it seem a bold thing to
do at the time as he seemed virtually untouchable?
We never had any communication no. He did come to see us at the El
Ray Theatre in LA, and our bassist talked to him. It didn’t seem brave,
it seemed necessary or before you know it shit is on your ears and Brexit comes
along. Damn.
Do you not play gigs often because most
of the songs are too complex to reproduce live? Are you playing any gigs this
year?
No, we don’t actually think they are complex, we still try to keep to 2
or 3 chords all majors. We don’t play because when I did feel ill I
realised I didn’t want to play live again. We all have kids and time has
moved on.
What do you think Cornershop has that
no other band can offer? How do you feel about the body of work you have
produced? Do you have any favourite Cornershop/Clinton LPs? Any regrets over
your career? Any plans for re-releases or boxsets of your work?
I think we have a background different to most bands, we have never
yearned for a stage, but have always tried to record different songs and
reflect what is going on in the world. We are very proud of our releases
and think they have made for an interesting development which will
threaten to show itself for a long time.
As the years go by we are more pleased with the Clinton album, very
personally pleased to have done the Bubbley Kaur album which has never
gone out of fashion, but neither have our other albums, my favourites being
Handcream For A Generation and Judy Sucks A Lemon For Breakfast.
We did a compilation album on Burgers Records a while back, but
will no doubt do more.
Finally, can I just check – I always thought the band formed in 1991 but on your Twitter bio you say ‘Independent purveyors of quality music since 1993’ Is that because that was the date of your first release, the In The Days of Ford Cortina EP? Or is it correct to say you formed in 91?
Yes because of release date, as the EP was recorded in late 1992.
On Wikipedia, it mentions band members Nick Simms, Peter Bengry, Adam Blake, Pete Downing, James Milne. Are they full band members or are they only part of the band when you are recording an LP or playing a gig? Or is the band just you and Ben?
They are all full band members in and out of the studio.
Thanks Dave, if there is anything else then please contact us, Tjinder
Cornershop – When I Was Born for the 7th Time (1997) – a personal review by Greg Neate.
In the early 1990’s, Cornershop were an incendiary, rough-edged indie band from Leicester, an historic city in the English Midlands with a significant medieval past and a more modern history of migrant families from the British Commonwealth. This was where I first met and photographed them during their early abrasive gigs and as they progressed from releasing statements of intent singles to stretching their ideas out into full albums.
To say the reactions they evoked were mixed, would be an understatement as although I quickly enthused about them, much a disparaging word – sometimes rightly – was also said. However their third album, 1997’s When I Was Born for the 7th Time was neither a riposte to their detractors nor a rebirth, but an unexpected transformation into a multifaceted and globally aware phenomenon. Even among their supporters, I wasn’t alone in failing to imagine that they could have created an album that continues to startle in its originality, ambition, breadth and delivery.
Some context for this sudden leap forward comes from how the album was midwifed by their original independent UK record label, Wiiija, with international backing from David Byrne’s Luaka Bop label and part co-produced by rising hip-hop producer, Dan the Automator. However, that doesn’t take anything away from the album’s cohesion and diversity that continues to sound timeless, contemporary and even anticipatory; while the amusing song-sketch, Funky Days Are Back Again took inspiration from the Tories downfall, its vision of dungarees and worker’s strikes backed by a primitive casiotone soundtrack might now be more suited to post-BrexitBritain.
Like the band themselves, When I Was Born… has been somewhat overshadowed by the success of its second single, Brimful of Asha; Cornershop’s tribute to vinyl culture that references their genre mixing and globetrotting musical influences. In a post-modern twist, the song became a catalyst to itself, courtesy of a Big Beat remix by Norman Cook and an astonishing international hit. On the album though it’s preceded by the strangely hypnotic, sloping album opener, Sleep on the Left Side, which acts as a perfect foil before giving way to the deceptively simple, Richman-esque riff that announces Brimful’s joyous arrival.
From there the vinyls double-album fifteen tracks dovetail naturally into each other, including a number of instrumentals featuring looped samples and sitar breaks. There’s even room for some rather special guests but before that, Cornershop have some star turns of their own, particularly We’re In Your Corner, which features the Punjabi vocals of the band’s main figure Tjinder Singh backed by Anthony Saffery’s sitar and Ben Ayres’ tamboura before Nick Simms and Peter Bengry’s percussive accompaniment bursts into full flight. Later on the album’s closer, Singh will return to his mother tongue during an otherwise faithful cover of The Beatles‘ Norwegian Wood.
In between more multilingual voices appear as Lourdes Belart counts in Spanish from uno to quatro on Good Shit, followed by a duet with American country singer, Paula Frazer, on Good To Be On The Road Back Home. While the former extolls the joy of the journey as Singh describes “feeling good behind the wheel”, the latter lists an increasingly number of dislocated places: from Tokyo to London, Chattanooga to New York City. According to the album’s credits, such references nearly match the number of locations where When I Was Born… was written and/or recorded in, including Singh’s bedroom on London‘s Holloway Road. And if that wasn’t enough global locations for you, when Good Shit was released as the album’s first single (with its title appropriated for public consumption as Good Ships), its cover featured an African-American astronaut with an afro enjoying a space walk above Earth.
Two American poets of rather different kinds complete the album. On Candyman, Justin Warfield provides a hip-hop delivery over a looped Larry Coryell guitar riff alongside Singh’s declaration as the song’s protagonist, to create a track so fresh that a decade later it was dropped untouched into global marketing campaign to sell footwear. Meanwhile in one of Allen Ginsberg’s final recordings, the original beat-poet provides a reading on When the Light Appears Boy as a carnival band parades past several floors down on the street below.
Over twenty years on and in a world that’s become increasingly compressed, the album continues to anticipate the experience of global citizens who have lived in multiple places but may be dislocated from feeling at home. It might even be that wherever you are, the sound you now hear outside your window is like When I Was Born for the 7th Time.
Cornershop formed whilst me and Benedict were studying at Lancashire Polytechnic, & living in the same house. My brother Avtar and David (HB) C joined us.
Around September 1992, we were were compelled to burn posters of Morrissey at our gigs and also outside his EMI record label to stage against Morrissey’s flamboyant racist overtones. He himself was a fully formed 33 years of age, so we were surprised and disappointed at his quick succession of far right volleys – such as using Richard Allen skinhead imagery to being draped in a Union Jack, at a time when far right sentiment was on the rise & Blacks and Asians were being attacked and murdered. He was such an influential artist that we needed to try and stamp it out, and it was further compounded because he never responded to discussion about far right wingism as he does today.
Our demonstrations were seen as quaint, people noted the points we were making, but most seemed happier that he was getting a backlash than anything akin to propagating racial hatred. Others simply carried on with their worshipping, slipping away over the years as his rhetoric got worse. It is good that we get more recognition for this anti-Morrissey stance now than we did last century.
We realise now more clearly, especially with the plethora of articles about this bolted horse that the term white privilege has allowed many to oversee such matters until one has a book or article to do. Why else would such extreme expression have been tolerated for nearly 3 decades?
But times have moved on. Morrissey has found favour with other twisted fruits like Farage, and Robinson & today the struggle is a general rise in international right-wingedness. Austerity has broken the resolve of many an industry, times are more difficult for those that work hard and overall we have not had the time to puncture the illusion that Europe is to blame. Europe has really blessed the UK with funds, working standards, general protections and peace. Without such guidelines the UK will be a tax haven for the few and enslavement for the many, and a great helipad for the US and Russia. As we said in Staging the Plaguing of the Raised Platform: “The Presidents that you are against, & consequence that it may all go wrong Ananda.” We have it all to fight for and realise our own collective folly before it’s too late.
We haven’t done any new merchandise for quite a while, so we thought a mug would be practical, as well as creating conversation, and of course doubling up to be quite a handy weapon.On the one side it has the Ample PlayLondon England telephone logo (Ample Play, our own label),and on the other is a Cornershop logo repeated to dizzying psychedelic heights. Both are designs by our long-time collaborator and friend Nick Edwards.
Here it is pictured in full black-and-white, representing the no-nonsense of the label and the group alike.Ourselves, we are heavy tea drinkers but it can be put to good use with any beverage.
The mug will be packed by some unsuspecting band member, as all of our postage is (mainly Tjinder), in environment friendly cardboard packaging.
Two Cornershop events at Bloomsbury Festival next month this October 2017 if you can get to London.
‘What Did The Hippie Have in His Bag?’ Family Workshop
A family workshop with our friend Peter the Librarian and Tjinder Singh based on the Cornershop song and picture book ‘What Did the Hippie Have in His Bag?’
A session involving crafts, poetry, music and meditation. Come and find out what the Hippie has in his bag, in a session that entertains all ages.
11am Sunday 22 October Bloomsbury London Tickets & details here
The essential 7″ VINYL BOOK can be purchased here via our label Ample Play Records
URBAN TURBAN – A WALK THROUGH AN ALBUM Tjinder has had this ‘Walk Through an Album’ idea for a long time. The album being the much cherished Urban Turban, an album of multiple musical and visual collaborations, which lends itself to becoming a physical experience. Bloomsbury Festival listened to the idea and walked it.
As time goes by the trade off between being known for one song to the detriment of the rest of our catalogue seems like a fake news item that started afore this century, and being called “the most underrated group in Britain” suddenly takes on some charm. Then articles like this one in The Guardian appear, and all is rosey again. Radiohead fans that deny When I Was Born was ever Spin Magazines number 1 in 1997 can do one, and a little balance and truth is back again, many thanks Guy Smith.
‘The Roll Off Characteristics (of History in the Making)‘ is a track from Cornershop‘s Judy Sucks a Lemon for Breakfast album. When American film-maker Prashant Bhargava got in touch with us, he had used our track Topknot featuring Bubbley Kaur as the promo video for his film Patang. Looking at the footage we were impressed by the techniques – bright Fuji Color, blur outs, uneven and downright abstract & thought it a love marriage with the music. The footage also became the official video for the song, and Prashant went on to release the film to critical acclaim in 2012.
When the parents of such a love marriage talked to each other we got on so well that we asked if he had any unused footage from the film to do a video for ‘The Roll Off Characteristics of History in the Making.’ He provided wedding day footage of an actual wedding with Sgt Sardar’s Hearts Club Street Band. We consider the song to be a reflection of how the world has gone in terms of such events as middle-eastern wars being a ‘technical plip-plop’ and ‘honeycomb we are breaking’ being a referendum vote to exit from Europe.
This video used to be up on YouTube but somehow got corrupted – we blame no one, but are sure glad to have it up and running again.
On a very sad note, as we have written about before, Prashant suddenly passed away whilst working in New York. Even more a reason to celebrate the marriage.
You can read about Prashanthere, find out about his Patang film here and order yourself a copy of ‘Judy Sucks a Lemon for Breakfast‘ on vinyl, on CD, or listen to it on Spotify.
