They described their place in the Britpop scene as follows: 'You know, there was Pulp as kind of prefect, then Elastica were like the Fifth form, and we were the juniors.' Beyond this rather blase description of their place in the scene, they also sounded like virtually no other band at the time, adding cabaret and humour where others were dour and workmanlike. Who else would describe their songs as variously about sex, skinheads, fish, girls with guns, body fascists and more sex?
Going back to the start, James met pippa when she was performing in a club, and after finding Richard, the band formed in late '95. An early gig was at the indie club "Smashing", run by Minty's Matthew Glamorre and Menswear's manager Adrian Webb. After seeing the band, Adrian offered to manage them immediately, and following a Dublin Castle gig in 1996, they released their debut single 'Mermaid', which despite seeming innocent enough for pop magazines, was actually all about sex, and reached no.7 in the indie charts.
Helped by Pippa's fashion connections they were soon being photographed alongside supermodel Stella Tennant for Harpers Bazaar. They also put in some energetic performances at a few festivals as their fanbase grew. One of these led to them signing with Rhythm King records, and their next single, 'Shark Attack' reached no 5 in the indie charts. Other singles, such as 'Rough Lover' followed, with further success in the indie chart as a result.
Eventually their chosen style fell out of favour, and the band split, but upon Posh's demise, Pippa and Richard continued in a new band, Shopgirl, who found a small degree of notoriety in fashion and tabloid circles when Pippa caught the attention of Hugh Hefner and agreed to pose for Playboy. As usual an amount of media savvy was involved, as all those invited to cover the 'event' would be forced to comment on the soundtrack to the shoot, which was none other than 'Exotic Pictures' by the band Pippa was now fronting . . . the song was also available for download at the Playboy official website.
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