Origins
The band formed in 1994 after classmates, Amanda Rootes and Angie Adams were inspired by a jazz-blues singer in one of Old Compton Street's gay cafes. They were attending college in London at the time, studying art and design. Guitarist Bridgette Jones did her A levels before joining and the band began rehearsing in Rootes' living room. Fluffy's original bassist was Pandora Ormsby-Gore, but she left the band to become an actress, changing her name to Pandora Colin. Shortly afterwards, Mancunian Helen Storer left Kingston University to join and the band began recording.
Fluffy's first singles "Hypersonic" and "Husband" (both produced by Mal Campbell and Tony Wilson from Freaks of Desire) were released in 1995. The band frequently played shows in their early days at underground fetish balls and parties, such as at Torture Garden and Submission, and gained attention for their raucous shows, performing barefoot in slip dresses.
They were signed by Dave Stewart of Eurythmics to the publishing side of his label, Anxious Records. Stewart threw a party for the band's first single, "Hypersonic". Although Fluffy were initially signed to Parkway Records, (owned by press agents Phill Savidge and John Best of Savidge and Best), it was not until A&R man Tom Zutaut signed them to a two album deal with The Enclave/Hut/Virgin, that Fluffy gained wider notoriety. The band appeared on the NME's yearly bratbus tour in 1996, along with The Bluetones, The Cardigans, and Heavy Stereo. The band's debut album Black Eye was released in 1996, and the band supported the Foo Fighters on tour. They were the opening act for the Sex Pistols reunion tour of Japan, as well as the Sex Pistol's first reunion show at Finsbury Park
Fluffy were also the opening band during the European part of Marilyn Manson's 'Anti-Christ Superstar' tour, and toured the U.S. with the Neurotic Outsiders.
Their music video for "Black Eye" was shot in New Orleans by Floria Sigismondi, and the making of the video was documented by MTV. Their album Black Eye was produced by Bill Price, who also recorded Never Mind the Bollocks.
The band was regularly featured in several magazines; Kerrang, Q, Select, Melody Maker and NME. They also appeared on several UK television shows, including Top of the Pops, The Big Breakfast and Hotel Babylon. The band finally split in 1998, when Rootes and Storer moved to Los Angeles, California.
Read more about this topic: Fluffy (band)
Famous quotes containing the word origins:
“Lucretius
Sings his great theory of natural origins and of wise conduct; Plato
smiling carves dreams, bright cells
Of incorruptible wax to hive the Greek honey.”
—Robinson Jeffers (1887–1962)
“The origins of clothing are not practical. They are mystical and erotic. The primitive man in the wolf-pelt was not keeping dry; he was saying: “Look what I killed. Aren’t I the best?””
—Katharine Hamnett (b. 1948)
“Grown onto every inch of plate, except
Where the hinges let it move, were living things,
Barnacles, mussels, water weeds—and one
Blue bit of polished glass, glued there by time:
The origins of art.”
—Howard Moss (b. 1922)