Tiny Monroe were an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 indie

Indie (music)

In music, independent music, often shortened to indie music or "indie" is a term used to describe independence from major commercial record labels or their subsidiaries, and an autonomous, Do-It-Yourself approach to recording and publishing....

 britpop

Britpop

Britpop is a subgenre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom. Britpop emerged from the British independent music scene of the early 1990s and was characterised by bands influenced by British guitar pop music of the 1960s and 1970s...

 band of the 1990s.

The band was formed in London in 1993 by founder members NJ Wilow (vocals), Alex Culpin (bass guitar), Philip Spalding (guitar) and Greg Sanford (drums). The line up was cemented when Richard Davies (guitar) and Jon Solomon (drums) replaced Spalding and Sanford. This was the line up that played at Glastonbury, Reading and T in the Park festivals in 1994, and who recorded the majority of the songs on the album 'Volcanoes'. A final line up appeared post recording of the bands only album 'Volcanoes' comprising NJ Wilow (vocals), Richard Davies (guitar), Garry Becker (bass) and Dan Neumann (drums) ref name="Strong">Strong, Martin C. (2003) The Great Indie Discography, Canongate, ISBN 1-84195-335-0, p. 1031 The band quickly attracted press attention from the NME

NME

The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...

and Melody Maker

Melody Maker

Melody Maker, published in the United Kingdom, was, according to its publisher IPC Media, the world's oldest weekly music newspaper. It was founded in 1926 as a magazine targeted at musicians; in 2000 it was merged into "long-standing rival" New Musical Express.-1950s–1960s:Originally the Melody...

. The band emerged as part of a perceived wave of female fronted bands influenced by the new wave sounds of the late 70s and early 80s. Other bands to emerge at the same time included Elastica

Elastica

Elastica were an English alternative rock band that played punk rock-influenced music. They were best known for their 1995 album Elastica, which produced singles that charted in the US and the UK.-History:...

, Sleeper

Sleeper (band)

Sleeper were a British Britpop band in the 1990s fronted by Louise Wener. The band had eight UK Top 40 hit singles and three UK Top 10 albums. Their music was also featured in the soundtrack of Trainspotting.-Career:...

, Echobelly

Echobelly

Echobelly were a Britpop band, debuting in 1994 with their album Everyone's Got One. They were often compared to Blondie and were influenced by Morrissey, who himself was a fan of the group....

 and Salad

Salad (band)

Salad were a UK-based pop music group formed in London in 1992, that included Dutch vocalist/keyboardist Marijne van der Vlugt, bassist Pete Brown, drummer Rob Wakeman , and guitarist Paul Kennedy...

.

The band released their debut single "VHF855V" (the tile coming from the number plate of NJ's Ford Escort) on their manager Howard Gough's Laurel record label in March 1994, and released their first album Volcanoes in July 1996. Their most successful release, the Cream EP reached number 7 in the national indie chart in April 1994.

Early support tours with Cranes

Cranes (band)

Cranes are a British music group formed in 1986, whose style has been described as "gothic minimalism".-History:Formed in 1986 in Portsmouth, England by siblings Alison and Jim Shaw, and named after the many mechanical cranes around the city's docks, Cranes are best known for the childlike,...

 and Curve

Curve (band)

Curve was an English music group formed in 1990 chiefly around the collaboration of singer/songwriter Toni Halliday and bassist/guitarist/programmer Dean Garcia.-History:...

 were followed by festival appearances at Glastonbury

Glastonbury Festival

The Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts, commonly abbreviated to Glastonbury or even Glasto, is a performing arts festival that takes place near Pilton, Somerset, England, best known for its contemporary music, but also for dance, comedy, theatre, circus, cabaret and other arts.The...

, Reading and T In The Park

T in the Park

T in the Park is a major British music festival that has been held annually since 1994. It is named after its main sponsor, the brewing company Tennents. It was originally held at Strathclyde Park, Lanarkshire but since 1997 has been held at a disused airfield in Balado, Kinross-shire...

 in 1994. Other festival appearances included Sweden's Hultsfred Festival

Hultsfred Festival

The Hultsfred Festival is an annual music festival held in Hultsfred, Sweden. It takes place at the lake Hulingen during three days in the June or July, from Thursday to Saturday. Since the first festival in 1986, its attendance has increased from 7,500 visitors to approximately 32,000 people in...

 and France's RouteRock festival in St. Malo. The band undertook several headline tours and supported the Pretenders

The Pretenders

The Pretenders are an English rock band formed in Hereford, England in March 1978. The original band consisted of initiator and main songwriter Chrissie Hynde , James Honeyman-Scott , Pete Farndon , and Martin Chambers...

, Suede

Suede (band)

Suede are an English alternative rock band from London, formed in 1989. The group's most prominent early line-up featured singer Brett Anderson, guitarist Bernard Butler, bass player Mat Osman and drummer Simon Gilbert. By 1992, Suede were hailed as "The Best New Band in Britain", and attracted...

 and Radiohead

Radiohead

Radiohead are an English rock band from Abingdon, Oxfordshire, formed in 1985. The band consists of Thom Yorke , Jonny Greenwood , Ed O'Brien , Colin Greenwood and Phil Selway .Radiohead released their debut single "Creep" in 1992...

 at the invitation of all three groups.
While in the band, NJ played the role of an alien in the BBC

BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

 television film The Traveller.

Album

• Volcanoes LP (1996), Laurel

"She"

"Cream Bun"

"Love Of the bottle"

"Open Invitation"

"Snake In The Grass"

"VHF 855V"

"Brittle Bones"

"Secret Place"

"Skin Beach"

"Women In Love"

"Bubble"

Singles

• "VHF 855V" (1994), Laurel
• Cream EP (1. Cream Bun 2. Jealousy 3. Brittle Bones 4. Sonic Blue) (1994) Laurel
• "She" (1. She 2. The Party's Over 3. Really Happy) (1996) Laurel
• "Open Invitation" (1. Open Invitation 2. Another Station 3. Mirror) (1996) Laurel

External links

• John Peel at Glastonbury - brief positive mention of band
• Norma Wilow website