Matt Berry

Best known for playing the eccentric, buffoonish boss in TV sitcom The IT Crowd and writing and starring as a pompous, struggling actor in Toast Of London, British comedian Matt Berry also turns his hand to music to create a unique style of retro, fantasy prog rock. In his youth he fell in love with a compilation of Mike Oldfield's work that his mother bought him and after learning the keyboards, he started playing in bands at university in Nottingham. When his acting career took off he composed the theme tune for his cult Channel 4 comedy Snuff Box and he also created the parody TV musical AD/BC: A Rock Opera which lovingly spoofed Jesus Christ Superstar. After early, self-released solo albums Jackpot and Opium, Berry signed to Acid Jazz Records and combined his obsession with '70s prog rock, psychedelic lounge music and pastoral folk into his first widely-released record Witchazel in 2009. Conductor Ronnie Hazelhurst's theme tunes for classic BBC shows such as Are You Being Served and Only Fools And Horses are another unusual influence on Berry, and he included some of those catchy, dated melodies into albums Kill The Wolf in 2013 and Music For Insomniacs in 2014. Berry has also toured with his backing bands The Maypoles and Jonas 3 which have at times included Mark Morriss from The Bluetones and Eric Johnson of The Shins.

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