The Soft Boys

The Soft Boys were an English rock band led by Robyn Hitchcock primarily during the 1970s, whose initially old-fashioned music style of psychedelic/folk-rock became part of the neo-psychedelia scene with the release of Underwater Moonlight.

The band formed in 1976 in Cambridge, England as Dennis and the Experts comprising Robyn Hitchcock (guitar), Rob Lamb (half-brother of radio host and author Charlie Gillett) guitar, Andy Metcalfe (bass), and Morris Windsor (drums). Alan Davies replaced Lamb after only four gigs late in 1976, and Kimberley Rew eventually replaced Davies. Matthew Seligman replaced Metcalfe in 1979.

The band broke up in 1981 after Underwater Moonlight. Rew formed the more mainstream pop group Katrina and the Waves, while Hitchcock went on to a prolific career with a similar whimsical, surrealistic style.

They briefly re-formed for a UK tour in 1994 and then again in 2001 for the 20th anniversary of Underwater Moonlight and the release of a new album, Nextdoorland, in 2002. They disbanded once again in 2003.

Seligman died in 2020 of complications from COVID-19.