The Zutons are a Liverpool band that was known for mixing different styles. These inveterate experimenters became popular in their hometown and far beyond. The creative concept of this group was to give familiar styles a new sound. Learn more about its story and details of its activities at liverpool-trend.com.
GENERAL INFORMATION
The Zutons’ early line-up consisted of Dave McCabe, Boyan Chowdhury, Sean Payne, Russell Pritchard, and a little later, Payne’s girlfriend, Abi Harding, who played saxophone. The group was formed in 2001, and in 2004, they released the debut album Who Killed…… The Zutons?. A very valuable point was that the band immediately showed its unique style, breaking the patterns that the listeners were already used to. With such originality, it resembles the Ukrainian TiK group.
The essence of the band’s style is to fuse genres – soul with country or jazz with funk. They mixed and helped look at these directions from a different angle.
The Zutons’ other album Tired Of Hanging Around was about hard times. More precisely, it is about situations when the person arranges difficult times by themselves, for example, when he gets drunk or breaks up with someone. Its sound is heavier and richer. The album was recorded back in 2005 but was laid back for some time because the band was busy promoting the Who Killed…… The Zutons? album. The five friends from Liverpool sold their albums in hundreds of thousands of copies and performed with such famous bands as U2, Oasis and R.E.M.
CREATION
The Zutons got their name from guitarist Bill Harkleroad’s nickname, Zoot Horn Rollo. The group appeared primarily thanks to the acquaintance of drummer Sean Payne and guitarist Dave McCabe. Later, they were joined by guitarist Boyan Chowdhury and bassist Russell Pritchard. Payne’s girlfriend, Abi Harding, joined after playing simple lines on the saxophone during the performances. The other members liked how the sax enhanced the sound of the songs. Thus, Abi became a regular member of the band, sometimes adding her vocals as well. In 2007, Boyan Chowdhury left the band and was replaced with Paul Molloy in 2008.
At first, the head of Deltasonic, Alan Wills, didn’t believe in McCabe and his abilities. He said that he had already heard this musician in the composition of other bands and had a negative impression. But over time, Wills’s opinion changed under the influence of James Skelly, leader of another Merseyside band, The Coral.
In the period of its formation, the group often had to face comparisons with The Coral. Both Merseyside bands worked with producer Ian Broudie and shared some creative views. McCabe had even written songs with James Skelly sometime before that.
ACTIVITY, SOURCES OF CREATIVITY AND SUCCESS
So, the band got active by signing a contract with the Liverpool label Deltasonic in 2003, and the following year, they completed their debut album.
The band took ideas for songs from low-budget films of the 1950s and British rock songs of the 1960s.
The Who Killed…… The Zutons? album proved commercially successful, reaching platinum status by the end of 2004. It was also positively evaluated by critics, who nominated the album for the Mercury Music Prize (but they weren’t awarded). Another success was a nomination for the British Breakthrough Act at the BRIT Awards, but the victory eluded The Zutons once more.
In April 2006, The Zutons’ second album, Tired of Hanging Around, was released. Like the band’s debut album, it turned out to be quite successful commercially, which wouldn’t be possible without quality music. In addition, the album took second place in the British national hit parade. Two singles from the album entered the chart’s top ten. These were Why Won’t You Give Me Your Love? and Valerie. The second one was covered by Mark Ronson and Amy Winehouse. It became number two in the UK charts and number one in the Netherlands charts.
McCabe shared interesting information regarding the song Why Won’t You Give Me Your Love?. The band played it for several years, but at some point, Dave felt that he should add a choir to it. The result was a wonderful, positive and funny pop composition with elements of rock, glam and boogie.
CHANGES AND DISABANDONMENT
Then there was the already mentioned replacement of the guitarist. With Paul Molloy, The Zutons recorded their third album, You Can Do Anything. They worked on it under the direction of producer George Drakoulias in Los Angeles. The album was released in June 2008.
The first single was Always Right Behind You, released on May 26, 2008. The album was recorded earlier that year in Los Angeles, California. On 17 May 2008, The Zutons were invited to Soccer AM as guest stars. But the band’s creative fervour began to gradually fade. There were very few concerts and there was only one UK tour in two years, in the summer of 2008. After performing at festivals, including Summer Sundae in Leicester and Wickerman Festival, in 2009, the band disbanded without attracting too much attention to that. Then there were short-term reunions for several performances, but the main part of their story ended in 2009.
