In 1988 I left Darlington for Bristol and art college where I met other musicians and did a bit of inexpert and badly paid busking. This was soon given up when some Irish guy borrowed my violin and rather embarrassingly showed me how to do it properly! Being in Bristol meant access to lots of cheap gigs and so the calling to Rock'n'Roll took hold. Not having played anything other than violin acoustically, the chance of joining a loud, noisy band looked dim. After a James gig at The Bierkeller in Bristol, I consulted their violin bloke and he very kindly gave a few snippets of advice about the amplification of acoustic instruments. Through contacts made via friends Sarah and Sam, I first stepped into a recording studio with Bristol band Quinton in 1991 where I met Tom Adams. Not ever having been in a studio before, I was slightly intimidated and wasn't entirely happy with my out-of-tune and wobbly results!

So, it was a relief when a friend (John Austin) from college introduced me to Rupert Taylor and I joined his band, Moneyspider, on violin in 1992. Around the same time, John joined Beatnik Filmstars, who were involved in putting on gigs (Heaven up Here) in Bristol. They were the first people regularly putting on bands upstairs at the Louisiana. Armed with my contact strip microphone, no food in my nervous stomach other than Guinness, my first live gig was at the Mauretania with Moneyspider supporting Stereolab. After many local gigs Moneyspider's bass player eventually left town to go to college and the band dissolved. We made one vinyl LP and I think Janice Long played it on a radio station in Manchester or Liverpool. The recording of this was far more successful for me than my first attempt. This is where I first met Tim Rippington, who engineered it at Southside Studio in Bedminster, Bristol.

Rupert and I regularly joined Beatnik Filmstars on tour in Europe to help out with merchandising and as a result of this I misplaced my appendix in Weilheim, Germany! I was somewhat grateful to Beatnik Filmstars for properly insuring me as being in their employment thus being able to fly home early to recuperate! And also to Toby (then manager of German band The Notwist) who kindly let us stay in his flat.

At some point previous to this Mark Barber (Chesterfields, Grape, Pop Parker) had shown me the basics of bass-playing and I'd been borrowing a weird 'bits out of a skip' homemade bass from friend Muyid for a while. Violin was a bit limiting for the type of music I wanted to play so I decided to give bass playing a go. Bass also had 4 strings, same notes only the other way round to a violin. I practised along to Throwing Muses in my bedroom and eventually tunes and lyrics tentatively starting popping into my head.

A new band was needed to try this stuff out with so I started Girlboy Girl with Rupert and Jez from Moneyspider, eventually joined by Alan Gibbs on guitar (an old school friend and ex band-mate of John Austin's.

Some of my ancestors had a banjo band in Darlington (see pics) and my grandad (who died before I was born) played the violin. I was brought up listening to Suzy Quatro(yes the bass player is a 'she') and The Beatles whilst learning violin from the age of 8. My best friend Susan played violin too so we sometimes played duets together when not stuck up trees or running away from boys! We used to sing Abba and Grease songs together over the sound of Susan's big brother's Tamla Motown records coming through the bedroom wall. Or maybe it was the other way round...Susan was the first person I co-wrote a song with. We were 8 or 9. It was called 'I'm the beautifullest girl in the world'. Sadly, the cassette recording of us singing it has long since been lost! Susan now sings soprano in a church choir in Twickenham. Her daughter, Beth, has recently started violin lessons at school.

I spent my teenage years in youth orchestras, which included a regular Edinburgh Festival slot and an orchestra exchange to Czecholsovakia where I hung out with the brass section who introduced me to Pilsner lager and sneaking out of youth hostels. So the 'being in a bus for days on end with other tired and teasy musicians' thing took root. I discovered John Peel and 'indie' music as a sixth former and when chosing colleges, the NME listings were duly consulted to make sure Bristol had some decent bands playing!