Groove Armada

Picture yourself, arms in the air, jumping in unison with thousands of others: you’re Superstylin’. Picture yourself, swaying as a trombone wails and the sun goes down: you’re At the River. Now picture yourself in a state of musical euphoria… You’re at BIG DAY OUT 2010 and GROOVE ARMADA have well and truly taken over.

For almost 15 years, Brits Andy Cato and Tom Findlay have been building the biggest beats in all the land. Their string of party starters, chill out classics and stonkin’ anthems is intimidating and intoxicating: Superstylin’, I See You Baby, At the River, Get Down, Song 4 Mutya, If Everybody Looked the Same, and most recently, Drop the Tough and, with Aussie Nick Littlemore on vocals, Warsaw.

The duo’s new album, Black Light, will be released in February, making BIG DAY OUT punters some of the first in the world to get a taste. Tom calls Warsaw the “harder edge of the record”. As for the rest, Andy says it’s a return to the raw, live, warehouse vibe. “There’s no doubt that it’s the best music we’ve ever made. There’s some really special songs on there.” This last point has been driven home at recent gigs, Andy says, where “people who’d never heard a note of it before had the same instinctive reaction to it that we’ve been having for the last few months”.

Provoking that instinctive reaction from the stage will be the new-look, slimline GROOVE ARMADA four-piece, with Tom picking up his work rate on bass and keys – “I’m doing more than just my emails up there now,” he quips. Then there’s MC Mike and the team’s latest addition, frontwoman Saint Saviour.

“She was the talk of the town,” Andy said after their first shows together. “She came on in this incredible catsuit, two costume changes, amazing singing, she just owned the stage.”

The changes have turned GROOVE ARMADA into “something fresh for the future” says Gigwise. At their own Lovebox festival in London in July (yes, they started their own festival), GROOVE ARMADA were the highlight, said thelondonpaper. “Boosted by the presence of pixie-like new vocalist Saint Saviour... New material from Black Light blended perfectly with old faves such as At the River and irresistible crowd-pleaser Superstylin’.”

Now, picture GROOVE ARMADA in their element, one of the greatest live dance music shows ever to grace a stage, exploding into life at BIG DAY OUT 2010. It’s the moment you’ve been waiting for.