Cornershop’s Tjinder Singh tells Tim Hughes why his band are about more than just THAT song.

NAMED as a knowing, tongue-in-cheek reference to a popular Indian stereotype, Cornershop have always made a habit of kicking at boundaries and breaking down barriers.

Among the first British-Asian indie acts, they are also a fine band, who constantly surprise with their feel-good tunes, engaging live shows and wry perspective.

All of which makes them the perfect choice for the first major festival of the summer – this weekend’s Wychwood Festival.

Their date at Witney music-lover Graeme Merifield’s three-day gathering will see Tjinder Singh’s band joining the likes of The Charlatans, Waterboys, Blutones, Jethro Tull’s Ian Anderson, and Eliza Carthy at Cheltenham Racecourse.

“We like a few gigs now and again,” jokes Wolverhampton-born Tjinder, who formed his band while working as a barman at a music pub in Leicester in 1991, and whose debut In The Days of Ford Cortina, was released on what they described as ‘curry-coloured vinyl’.

The Wychwood set will give them the chance to show off their new tunes, including material from this year’s album Cornershop and the Double ‘O’ Groove Of – a collaboration with Punjabi folk singer Bubbley Kaur.

But, for all but the fiercest fans, Cornershop still mean one thing – that song. The infectious Brimful of Asha, a tribute to Indian singer Asha Bhosle, charted at number 60 when it was released in 1997, but, after being given the Norman Cook re-mix treatment hit the top of the charts the following year.

Does it irk Tjinder that they are still largely known for a tune which was re-worked by another musician?

“It probably irks us as much as it irks Norman that it’s his most popular remix,” he answers. “Though we are happy that as people get into their more mature years they turn to the original, as well as the Werthers.”

Tjinder is currently winning back old fans, and gathering new ones with his new album featuring the double sugar-coated vocals of Bubbley Kaur.

And while it may have taken a while, it is worth it, he says.

“The complete recordings were finished in their own good time,” he explains “There was no need to quickly put the album out, but there was a need to make it top rank and evergreen, especially as I have wanted to do an album like this for 20 years.”

The story of how Tjinder and Bubbley met would not have been out of place in a Bollywood movie. They met very fleetingly, years ago at a cellar gathering in Preston Lancashire, where he studied. But it was only after a recommendation from a taxi driver friend that Tjinder realised who she was, and that the singer, who now worked in a launderette, was the same lady he met in that northern bar many years before.

The pair met at Tjinder’s house to listen to traditional Punjabi folk music, and slowly Bubbley came out writing her own original lyrics. But while the album sounds deeply Asian, all is not as it seems.

“Apart from the Punjabi vocals, which when played backwards are actually French, there are actually less Asian influences than usual,” he says. “There never is a conscious effort for any sound; I just go for what moves at the time.”

This time he chose to release the album himself.

Was this out of necessity, one wonders, or did they want more control on the finished product?

“It was a deliberate move due to many labels thinking our water system had been switched off,” he says bluntly.

“But whatever label, especially small labels, one has to work hard or nothing gets done.”

Incredibly they asked fans to pledge money to help them complete the record. Was he surprised at the response?

“Yes,” he says. “It was a marvellous response and helped us pass the finishing line of putting the record out, as well as start the word that the album was on its way.”

More than any other band, Cornershop are the embodiment of multiculturalism. So what does Tjinder think of David Cameron’s comments that multiculturalism in this country had failed.

“England has always been multicultural,” he says. “It has been Roman one minute, Dane the next, albeit with a hue of whiteness.

“So mixed multiculturalism seems to be what he’s pointing his sticky finger at, and I would like to point the sticky wicket to history.

“Plus, I forgot to mention… Cameron is a fool!”

* Cornershop play the Wychwood Festival tomorrow. The event starts tomorrow and runs until Sunday. Adult weekend tickets £115 (plus £20 for camping), day tickets £37-£53. Concessionary tickets are also available. Kids under five go free, and those up to 10 get in for £15 for the weekend. Call 01993 772580 or visit wychwoodfestival.com