| Kav Sandhu | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Kavin Sandhu |
| Also known as | KAV |
| Origin | Leicester |
| Genres | Rock N' Roll, Indie, Blues, Electro |
| Instruments | Guitar Vocals bass |
| Associated acts | Happy Mondays, KAV |
Kav Sandhu is a British musician from Leicester, who previously played guitar with Happy Mondays. He launched his new self titled group, KAV, in February 2008 with himself on guitar and vocals, Jim Portas (drums and backing vocals). KAV plays live with his 'Band Of Blaggers'. Current musicians include Jim Portas, T.J Roe, Dan Mcgarry & Aidan Istead. Other musicians have included Dan Gulino (bass), Bobby Angels (slide guitar and harmonica), Gren Spencer of The Lysergic Suite Josh Ostrander of Eastern Conference Champions, T.J. Roe, Rich Nightingale, Eric Nicolau and Marc Hayward of The Dash
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Kav Sandhu's first band, A.K.A Weave, toured the UK, playing at venues such as The Astoria, Camden Underworld, and the Manchester Roadhouse. The band caught the eye of Oasis's ex-bassist Guigsy, who had recently parted with Oasis. This resulted in an opportunity to record at the Rockfield Studios in Monmouth, Wales with Guigsy. The band began to work on their debut album.
After Rockfield, the band continued to record independently at Manchester's Testa Rossa Studios. The band went on a "Groove Harder" tour which featured Shaun Ryder and Bez as guest DJs and other indie performers such as Rick Witter from Shed Seven.
After the split of A.K.A Weave, Sandhu moved to London in 2003 and co-launched the club night "Getloaded" at London's Turnmills nightclub. This was the start of a partnership with Turnmills MD and House promoter Danny Newman. Over the next 18 months, Sandhu brought various musicians to "Getloaded", including Factory Records boss Tony Wilson, Howard Marks (Mr Nice), Clint Boon (Inspiral Carpets/ XFM) Peter Hook (New Order/ Joy Division), Annie Mac (Radio 1), Steve Lamacq (Radio 1/ 6Music), Carl Barat (Libertines/ Dirty Pretty Things) Beta Band, Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce (The Smiths), The Farm, Client, and El Presidente.
Getloaded launched its inaugural summer festival in 2004. 10,000 revellers descended on Clapham Common for what was to become one of the biggest London indie festivals, and one of the early challengers to the mainstream UK festivals. "Getloaded in The Park 2004" was awarded "Best New Festival" at the UK Festival Awards 2004.[1] Kav parted with Getloaded in 2006.
The headliner for "Getloaded in the Park 2004" was the Happy Mondays, their first live gig in nearly five years. Shaun Ryder had toured with A.K.A Weave as a DJ, and recruited Sandhu to join the Happy Mondays on guitar, handing him the task of recruiting new band members to fit alongside original members Gary Whelan and Mark Berry ("Bez"). Sandhu completed the new lineup of the Happy Mondays, along with ex A.K.A Weave band member Mikey Shine and San Diego-born slide guitar player Jonn Dunn. After their successful appearance at "Getloaded in the Park 2004", the Mondays continued touring live and decided to record a new album.
In summer 2005, Sandhu started a new indie/electro project called Sonic Audio'. The band released a white label 12" called Killing Yourself on the London indie label Puregroove Records. Sonic Audio played on tour and did a gig with Shaun Ryder at the Glastonbury Festival. They played on the Leftfield stage with The Rakes and British Sea Power. Sonic Audio also played Alan McGee's Pop Tones stage as a late replacement for The Libertines ex guitarist Carl Barat.
That same summer, producers for British football film Goal! asked the Happy Mondays to write the title track for their new film. Sandhu co-wrote the track "Playground Superstar" with Shaun Ryder, Gaz Whelan and producer Dave Parkinson. Following this, Happy Mondays commenced work on a new studio album.
Happy Mondays toured the world, including appearances at Fuji Rock 2006 and 2007, Coachella Festival, Roskilde Festival, Summercase Madrid and Barcelona, Global Gathering, Getloaded festivals, MEN Arena, Brixton Academy and V Festival.
Sandhu spent his spare time doing DJ gigs worldwide, including in Japan, Mexico, South America, Europe. He played on the same line-up as Guns & Roses and Bob Dylan and toured Australia on the same lineup as James Brown as part of Good Vibrations Festival.
In 2006, Happy Mondays & Sandhu recorded a new album, Unkle Dysfunktional. Sandhu played guitar and sang backing vocals, and co-wrote some of the music with Gary Whelan and Shaun Ryder. The album featured Ry Cooder and LA rapper Mickey Avalon, and was released on Sanctuary Records in the summer of 2007. The band continues to tour worldwide. Sandhu played his last show with the Mondays at V Festival 2007, leaving to pursue his solo project.
In August 2007 Kav appeared with Norwegian dance-rockers Datarock at festivals in Reading and Leeds, plus did some London shows.
In January 2008 Kav Sandhu announced his new group titled "KAV", working with James 'Jim' Portas. On 21 of April 2008, they released their début EP Blaggers N' Liars. It received good reviews in the press, including The Guardian, which described Sandhu as a "Latter Day Jagger." [2] The Sun rated the EP four out of five. The music was compared to bands like Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Primal Scream, The Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin by The Guardian and other publications. Kerrang Radio recently described Sandhu as a one in million artist and compared him to Bob Dylan with an addiction to sleaze.[3]
After recording the first half of the album in London at Fortress Studios, the group moved to Los Angeles to work with producer and Eastern Conference Champions front man Josh Ostrander on the rest of the album.
While recording the album in Los Angeles, the band played at Spaceland, The Viper Room, Whisky a Go Go, and the Key Club, testing the new material. Sandhu also did some DJ'ing at clubs, including Cinnespace (as part of The Dim Mak records night) and The Standard Hotel. Back in the UK the band performed at The Aftershow in Manchester with "The Music," and London club nights like "This Feeling" and venues like Punk, The 100 Club and Proud Galleries.
After completing the recording sessions in LA, Sandhu returned to his hometown in Leicester to work on some album tracks with producer Gren Spencer and remix some of the earlier recordings with London producer Marc Waterman. He has now returned to Los Angeles and is finishing the album with Josh Ostrander and is also working on new material.
KAV signed a publishing deal in Los Angeles in April 2009, and his track "Easy" was featured in the Hollywood film Naked Ambition. The sound track for the movie was chosen by Nic Harcourt.
In summer 2009 he hosted a weekly radio show as part of the 'Exposure' series on Leicester Radio Station Demon FM.
'KAV' is the musical project from Kav Sandhu based between Los Angeles and London. KAV released his debut EP The Blaggers N' Liars EP in April 2010. KAV spent the majority of 2008 to 2011 in Los Angeles playing live and touring the US with DATAROCK and independently, including dates at SXSW 2010 & CMJ Music Marathon 2009 & 2010. He released The Mr Nice EP featuring Howard Marks in October 2010.
Sandhu completed a UK live tour with Howard Marks in September 2009 before touring the US with Datarock and Esser. Sandhu and his band then played the CMJ Music Marathon in New York City before playing other shows in Los Angeles including LA Buzz Bands.
KAV & his band played several shows at SXSW 2010, including two gigs at the Manic Fest Destiny Event at The Belmont, following with a Los Angeles show as part of the 'High Voltage' night at the Viper Room. On 28 April 2010, KAV launched his debut Los Angeles Club-Night in conjunction with 'This Feeling' London, 'This Feeling LA' at The Silverlake Lounge.[4]
KAV was also an Official CMJ Music Marathon Artist in New York City in 2010, appearing as part of the 'Reverbnation/ Ernie Ball' Showcase at Crash Mansion.[5] KAV supported The Posies at The Viper Room in July 2011, as part of a run of West Coast dates.
He and his 'Band Of Blaggers' completed recording his studio and live album in Los Angeles in 2010/2011. The albums will be released in March 2012.