The Soft Boys, the influential English psych-pop band that launched the career of singer/songwriter Robyn Hitchcock, will reunite for the first time in 20 years for a short tour in March.
According to a representative from Matador Records,
Hitchcock, guitarist Kimberley Rew, bassist Matthew Seligman and drummer Morris Windsor will begin the tour on March 17 during the South by Southwest music festival in Austin, Texas. On March 13, Matador will re-release the Soft Boys' 1980 classic, Underwater Moonlight.
Unlike many of their contemporaries in the punk era, the Soft Boys embraced the influence of Pink Floyd, particularly the band's early, whimsical phase with frontman Syd Barrett. The Soft Boys formed in 1976, and culled an impressive cult following until their demise in 1981. Such bands as R.E.M. have cited Hitchcock and the Soft Boys as influences.
Hitchcock has recorded 15 albums since the breakup of the Soft Boys, including 1990's Eye and 1999's Jewels for Sophia (RealAudio excerpt of title track). He has often been accompanied on tour and recordings by Windsor and Seligman as the Egyptians. Rew, who founded Katrina and the Waves ("Walking on Sunshine") after the Soft Boys, has joined Hitchcock onstage sporadically.
Of the three albums the band recorded, aficionados consider Underwater Moonlight the Boys' pinnacle. The reissue, which will be the only commercially available Soft Boys record in the United States, will include eight bonus tracks, among them "He's a Reptile" (RealAudio excerpt), a single recorded during the original Moonlight sessions but left off the album. Additionally, a disc comprising rehearsal sessions from 1979 and 1980 will be included in the reissue.
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