Jones, Stinton, Forster and Crowe had played together in various incarnations of Gay Dad ten years previously, such as The Timothy and the Astral Projection Society.
Gay Dad were formed in 1994 by former Mojo and The Face journalist Cliff Jones and art magazine publisher Nick Crowe (drums), along with their Berkshire teenage friends Dominic Stinton (vocals), Tim Forster (keyboards), and bassist Nigel Hoyle, who had originally played in a band called Brutus with Stinton a year or two earlier.