* En anglais uniquement
Andy Metcalfe was a founding member of
the Soft Boys and comprised half of
the Egyptians,
Robyn Hitchcock's popular college radio band from the '80s. Along with
Morris Windsor,
Metcalfe provided steady rhythm and accomplished
backing vocals behind
Hitchcock.
Metcalfe's versatility was not limited to work with
Hitchcock, as his post-
Egyptian career was filled with cameo appearances and production credits.
Metcalfe was born in 1956 in Bristol and attended college in Cambridge, where he formed Dennis & the Experts with
Hitchcock. In 1976, the band changed its name to
the Soft Boys and released an EP called Give It to the Soft Boys. After
some aborted album sessions, the band released its first album,
A Can of Bees, in 1979.
Metcalfe lent bass and vocals to the decidedly
Beefheart-ish affair, but left the band shortly after its release, and therefore was not involved with the band's breakthrough LP, 1980's landmark
Underwater Moonlight.
In late 1984,
Metcalfe reunited with
Hitchcock and former
Soft Boys drummer
Morris Windsor to form
Robyn Hitchcock & the Egyptians. They released
Fegmania! in 1985 and
Element of Light the following year, joining
XTC as one of alternative pop's most popular and durable groups.
Metcalfe's fretless bass added a loopy twist to
Hitchcock's surreal songs, especially on numbers like 1988's quasi-hit Balloon Man. That single was from the band's major-label debut,
Globe of Frogs, by which time
Metcalfe had expanded his repertoire to include keyboards and production. The band's final two releases, Queen Elvis and
Respect, were both popular on the college charts, but
Hitchcock yearned to pursue an exclusively solo career, so, despite its success, the group was disbanded in 1994.
After the breakup of
the Egyptians,
Metcalfe remained a steady contributor to other artists' work, and even produced an album by
the Autumns in 2000. ~ Brian Downing