GuilFest 2006. The 3 Day Guildford Music Festival on 14th, 15th and 16th July 2006

About the bands
return to main menu [return]

Artist: Cujo
Genre: Rock
Performing: 16th July 2005 /The Andertons LiveClub Stage
Website Address: [www.cujo.cc]
...................................................................

“Cujo are a new breed of Britrock beast; a band reared on chunky lumberjack shirt 90s American rock but, unlike many of their contemporaries, with a distinctly British bite” – (Mark Beaumont, NME)

“ I was utterly blown away by how utterly f'ing good they are” – Jack Cook (Glasswerk.co.uk)

“ AlieNation is an excellent album” – (Cargo, London )

2005 sees Cujo enter its 8 th year. Eight years is a long time and a lot has happened since the band’s inception. In May 1998, Kevin Dawson (guitarist/singer) and Ben Keep (then guitarist/now bassist) met whilst working in a country pub together. Both wanted to start a band. On bass, they enlisted mutual friend James Norton and on drums, another local, Jamie Hook. Cujo was born.

Cujo hail from Enfield , north London , a place most famous for Chas ‘n’ Dave and the first hole in the wall bank machine in the UK , not exactly the most inspiring of histories! But, with panache and resolve and influences ranging from Nirvana and the Pixies to the Chilli Peppers and Queen, Cujo set out to change things. Unbeknown to them however, a tragic event lay just around the corner which would change their lives forever.

On July 14 th 2000 , Ben waited for a call from James to let him know plans for the weekend. Instead, he received a call saying that James had been killed in a motorbike accident. Ben had been friends with James for 17 years, Jamie for 12 and Kevin for 5.

In the immediate aftermath of the accident, the band was put completely on hold. Four ambitious and highly talented young men had become just three and the thought of picking up instruments could not have been further from their minds. With time though, life began to regain some semblance of normality and they decided to try and try and start up the band again, knowing also that this is what James would have wanted. So, with a new fire burning in their bellies, they grabbed their instruments and started anew with Ben taking up the bass.

After the low-budget demo of Big Muff Pie in December 2000, Cujo travelled to Wales to record Can Your Grandaddy Do This?, a nine-tracker recorded, mixed and mastered in just 2 days. The band began to up the ante on the gig front, regularly playing the London circuit including well-known venues such as the Bull & Gate and Hope & Anchor and within months they were back in the studio recording the follow-up to Grandaddy, I’m Gonna Be An Astronaut.

In January 2002, Cujo sent one of their tracks, Summer Song (a tribute to James), to Claire Sturgess at XFM Unsigned. The track was aired the very next night. Having heard the track on the radio, Pepe Jeans then contacted Cujo asking to use Summer Song, rather appropriately, in a summer-long pan-European MTV campaign. Seeing this as great exposure for their music, Cujo agreed and Summer Song proceeded to blast its way into millions of homes across Europe .

By now, Cujo were really coming into their own. They were playing bigger and better venues and were continuing to fight against the image-driven bilge that had become much of British and American music. In March 2003, Pepe Jeans showcased four bands at London ’s Camden Monarch with a view to taking them out to play in Spain (which Cujo did in July of that year). Playing on the same night were a then unknown Razorlight and Aussie rockers Jet, so by the time Cujo took to the stage at 11.30pm the room was bursting at the seams with rock-hungry punters. In 25 minutes, the band blasted out 10 of their loudest and meanest, working the crowd into a absolute frenzy.

Later in 2003, Cujo returned to Wales once again to record their most adventurous record yet. Ginormous saw Cujo progress further than ever before both lyrically and sonically. From the fast paced rowdiness of Fake Lunar Landing and Pink Eyes (a love story between a man and an albino girl) to fantasy tale of revenge on authority in Walk All Over You and the anti-ladism ode of Leave Me Here Alone, Cujo began to realise they were not just another garage band with a bunch of mediocre tunes. They were now a tight, well-rehearsed 3-piece with some blinding songs that would not appear out of place on any national radio station.

With this new found confidence in both their own ability and their music, Cujo began to gain momentum in 2004 and soon found themselves gigging more extensively and further afield with sets at London’s Cargo and Camden Underworld amongst other established venues. In May, Cujo entered the studio once again and recorded ten new tracks. Six of these appeared on AlieNation, the band’s debut commercial EP which was self-released by the band in September and has, without any record label backing, sold several hundred copies to date. In the same month as the release of their EP, Cujo were invited to play at the internationally renowned In The City music convention in Manchester where they supported The Subways.

Now, in 2005, and things look to be shaping up nicely for Cujo. They already have appearances at the XFM/Glasswerk Outbreak Festival and the infamous London club night, Get Loaded (where they supported the likes of Shaun Ryder, Mani and Clint Boon) under their belt. They’ll also be going into the studio this summer to record a number of new tracks with a view to releasing a single later in the year and have been picked up by one of the UK ’s leading music law firms. Quite how Cujo can remain unsigned after eight years is anyone’s guess but, the way things are shaping up, that looks set to change soon.