Dodgy are back out on the road in May to celebrate 20 years since the release of their debut album, The Dodgy Album. The band will play the two albums The Dodgy Album (1993) and Stand Upright In A Cool Place (2012) in their entirety by the original members singer Nigel Clark, guitarist Andy Miller and drummer Mathew Priest.
Their gig at The Lomax on Saturday 23rd May (20 years since they first played the venue) will be the most important on the tour. “This Liverpool show feels like a hometown show. When Dodgy set out on our first U.K. tour, the band drew a circle round the U.K. pinpointing towns and cities along the circle where they wanted to play. Liverpool got in touch first.” says drummer Mathew.
“We spent a lot of time in Liverpool during the 90s. Our debut album was recorded with Ian Broudie in Amazon, now Parr St. Studios in Liverpool. We played for the dockers, visiting picket lines and the Hillsborough concert. We played mod-themed nights at The Picket playing in other bands that night, which included future members of Cast and Space. We even took a circus tent to Sefton Park, had our Christmas show to the Royal Court and we’ve even got a plaque at The Cavern” he says.
The Dodgy Album was recorded at Parr Street Studios in Liverpool, produced by The Lightning Seeds Ian Broudie and also an early career marker for mix engineer Cenzo Townshend, who is now one of the U.K.’s most sought after and respected mixer/producer including recent credits such as The Vaccines The Vaccines Come of Age, The Maccabees Given To The Wild and work with The Kaiser Chiefs, Snow Patrol and Miles Kane. The video for Water Under The Bridge was also one of the first commissions for director Jamie Thraves who after directing further videos for Blur, The Verve and an award winning video for Coldplay’s The Scientist went on to write and direct feature films.
The fact that The Dodgy Album achieved modest sales on its release, is more of testament to a time when a record company (in this case A&M) would develop and stick by an emerging artist, a commitment that enabled Dodgy to go on to make the gold and platinum chart albums Homegrown and Free Peace Sweet.
The first time round, Dodgy were only together for seven years but in that time they sold over a million records worldwide, released three albums and 12 Top 40 singles, including 3 Top 10s and the Top 5 hit Good Enough, still a staple of the radio playlists; sold out the Brixton Academy for three nights in a row and were awarded an unprecedented 90-minute Saturday evening slot on the Pyramid stage at Glastonbury Festival in 1997 just before Radiohead.
To have the band back in Liverpool once more is a night that is worth celebrating.
Tickets for Dodgy’s gig at The Lomax are priced at £15.