A to Z: Bestival 2008 - compiled by Rob da Bank



CocknBullKid is a pseudonym of Anita Blay (b. Hackney, London, UK to Ghanaian parents - aka theCocknBullKid). She has spent the past four years exploring all manner of influences (from Moz to Madonna, M.I.A to Little Richard), forging a distinctive sound. This exploratory period, included several released as TheCocknBullKid - its end was marked an 'official name-change' and the release of 7 One Eye Closed (Moshi Moshi, 8 Nov 2010), with Joe Cross & Jason Beck (Canadian musician, aka Gonzales & Chilly Gonzales). Her debut album, Adulthood was released on 23 May 2011. Her second single Hold On To Your Misery again involved Chilly Gonzales, as co-writer. CocknBullKid’s style, it should be said, resides firmly on the dark side of pop. There’s an almost Trojan quality to it - Anita’s ever-expanding repertoire is a subversive, sometimes sinister, and always sublime mix of sex, death, ugliness, wit and depravity, found amidst The Everyday and pegged onto supremely inventive pop melodies. “I’ve always thought pop should never just be saccharine” she says, “It should be black and tortured too. There’s no point otherwise.” Having played all the major UK festivals in the summer of 2008 and headlined the BBC Introducing Stage at Glastonbury, thecocknbullkid played live on Later With Jools Holland whilst still unsigned. A rare but deserved occurrence. Anita and her three piece band then went on to support Santogold before touring with CSS, Metronomy and Late of the Pier. Sites: Discogs & MusicBrainz Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.