The Lucy Nation

2 Followers
184 Plays

Compilations

Biography

Andrew 'Andy' Cousin (born 28 March 1963 in Huddersfield, Yorkshire) is an English bassist and, less commonly, guitarist from Huddersfield in England. He is principally known for being the bassist of All About Eve: he has also played for The Mission and is a founder member of The Lucy Nation. In the early 1980s Cousin played bass in Huddersfield for goth band Aemotti Crii, along with friend Tim Bricheno. Cousin remained with Aemotti Crii until they split up (circa 1984) and then moved down London for a very brief spell with a synthpop band called Pink and Black, appearing on one of their record covers despite not having played on any of the tracks. Bricheno had left Aemotti Crii and become a member of All About Eve: following the departure of bassist James Jackson, he invited Cousin to join. Cousin became the mainstay bassist, playing on all four of their albums of the era and remaining with the band after Bricheno departed in 1990. Many fans of the band's early sound reacted negatively to the new direction which the band were taking, and poor sales of the fourth album, Ultraviolet, caused internal stresses culminating in Regan's departure in early 1993, effectively ending the band. Cousin, along with drummer Mark Price and guitarist Marty Willson-Piper, remained in the studio to complete work on songs which had been intended for All About Eve's fifth album. These songs were eventually released in 1997 as Seeing Stars. In late 1993, Cousin joined The Mission after original bassist Craig Adams departed to join The Cult. Cousin played on two albums, Neverland and Blue, before the band split up. During this time, Cousin also played as a session musician on two songs by Mice, a band created by Regan that existed between 1995 and 1997. Cousin formed The Lucy Nation with Swedish singer and pianist Anna Nyström (who had also guested on Seeing Stars). This band recorded one album, On in early 1999 (although only promotional copies were ever distributed) and had one song, "Alright", featured on the soundtrack of the film Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me. Whilst this band never officially announced a split, they have been dormant up until now and their Myspace page has not been updated since May 2008. At the time The Mission were reforming in 1999, Wayne Hussey asked Cousin to broach with Regan the subject of reforming All About Eve to perform as support band on the Mission's tour. Following some successful live performances, All About Eve stayed together as a semi-acoustic three piece (comprising Cousin, Regan and Willson-Piper) and, with the addition of a drummer, as a fully electric band. Cousin remained with the band throughout their second era, including the Fairy Light Nights period and the departure of Willson-Piper in 2002. Cousin co-produced a mini-album Iceland. In mid-2004, shortly after the release of their first single in a decade, "Let Me Go Home", the band split once again following a directional argument between Cousin and Regan, although this rift appeared to have been healed as All About Eve's major compilation Keepsakes was released with collaboration from both in early 2006. The nearly completed All About Eve studio album that was being worked on remains unreleased: in April 2009, Regan stated on her Facebook page: "All About Eve are dormant and may never happen again. I don't ever like to say never though, but it seems we've all moved on and are exploring other avenues."