ENORMOUS are:

Davy Lawrence – the guitar, the vocals
Graham Boffey – the drums
Situation vacant – the bass guitar
Situation vacant – the big organ
Paul Varga and Ashley Morgan – the enormous horns

Enormous first plugged-in their guitars in 1992 in a rehearsal room in Mansfield, England.  Back then, the line-up included David Graham on bass guitar, and Steve O’Toole on guitar. They played up and down the country in the usual toilets and dives before releasing their debut single My Type on Beatific Records in the summer of 1998.

We were a very hungry band.

Says Davy now,

We would literally play for sandwiches.

The single attracted some excellent reviews in the national music press:

They have it in them to be a fine singles band and then some – NME

Firmly in the tradition of classic British songwriting. Observant, witty and full of spunk. A joy to listen to – Melody Maker.

They also contributed four songs to the Beatific compilation album The Cigarette Machine From God, garnering praise from the Sunday Times no less:

Pure horn-rimmed pop with brass reinforced hook-lines that don’t let go. Enormous deliver upbeat, soppy, singalong choruses one minute, then dark Costello-ish verses the next.

In 1999 the band began recording their first full-length album Almost Everything. Full of unabashed love songs and thrashy pop gems, it perfectly demonstrated their brand of edgy, hook-laden guitar pop.

In an article in Mojo magazine at the time, when asked about their notoriously loud live shows, drummer Graham Boffey quoted Laurel and Hardy and quipped:

We are musicians who play neither by note nor by ear. We use brute strength.

The band took the album out on tour in the UK, but after failing to find a distributor to help them get it in the shops, or a major record label to market the record in other countries, decided after a boozy rehearsal one night to take a break and reassess their situation. They intended to put their heads together to try to come up with some other means of promoting their material, but instead, guitarist Steve O’Toole and bass player David Graham left the group to explore separate interests.

The remaining Enormous members meanwhile crashed a few cars and began pursuing various solo projects, involving themselves with an assortment of other artists and performers. The band never actually split up, but somehow nine years passed – nine long years with what seemed like little or no output.

Davy Lawrence never stopped writing songs, however, and when he contacted his musical partners in crime in 2008 and told them; ‘Guys, I think we’ve got a brilliant new album here ready to record,’ it was trumpet maestro Ashley Morgan who replied:

Let’s get cracking, then. You’ve already made us wait long enough, Davy-Boy.

Thus it was that new members Steve Giles and Cappo joined Enormous to help Davy and the rest finish the job they had started ten years earlier.

I see no reason why a bunch of English fellows like us can’t go out there and sell records in today’s musical climate.

Says Davy.

It’s about the songs, after all; and our songs are up there with the best, just ask my dog Audrey.

So here we are, it’s 2009 and Enormous are back!

Firstly, the new full-length album Lust and Loathing at the Tender Heart will be finished off in Davy’s studio in Derbyshire, with an expected release on the band’s own label, Enormous Recordings, for summer 2009. Before that, you can download Electric Baby Grand: The Enormous Early Years to keep your Enormous juices flowing.

Right now the band are pumping themselves up in the rehearsal studio preparing for some summer dates in England and Europe. We’ll keep you posted on everything, including future releases and appearances, here at enormousreloaded.com.

Yep, Enormous are back. They’re full of songs, they’re full of spittle, and – as always – they’re full of themselves.