About this episode

Robyn Hitchcock discusses the making of The Soft Boys' album Underwater Moonlight and the band's musical evolution.

For the 45th anniversary of The Soft Boys’ influential second album, Underwater Moonlight, we take a detailed look at how it was made. When Robyn Hitchcock first started a band in Cambridge, England under the name Dennis and the Experts, he recruited Morris Windsor, Andy Metcalfe and Alan Davies. They changed their name to The Soft Boys and released an EP called Give It to the Soft Boys in 1977. Kimberly Rew replaced Alan Davies on guitar as they began working with Radar Records, releasing a single in 1978. After Radar dropped them, they self-released their first album, A Can of Bees, in 1979. At this point, Matthew Seligman replaced Andy Metcalfe on bass as they began working on the material for their second full-length album. Underwater Moonlight was eventually released by the Armageddon label in 1980. In this episode, Robyn Hitchcock describes how the band shifted musically from doing Captain Beefheart-inspired art rock into more Beatles-influenced pop rock. With Matthew Seligman rejoining the band and bringing a more melodic approach to his bass playing, Hitchcock began coming up with more traditional song structures. As punk was rearing its head in England in the late 70s…

People in this episode

Guest: Robyn Hitchcock

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: The Soft Boys, Radar Records, Armageddon

Books & works: Underwater Moonlight

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