The band consisted of Alex Taylor (vocals, formerly of Shop Assistants), with Paul McDermott (drums), Michael Kerr (guitar), and Eddy Connelly (bass) (all formerly of Meat Whiplash), and David "Scottie" Scott (guitar).[1] They were signed by Rough Trade Records, who issued their debut single, "Big Rock Candy Mountain", which reached number 2 in the UK Independent Chart.[2] The band were then signed up by Chrysalis Records, with two singles and debut album Scarlet (the album also had additional drumming by Anthony Cooper and keyboards from former Jesse Garon and The Desperadoes guitarist Stuart Clarke) was never released, but failed to achieve great success despite considerable press attention.[3] The band then split with Chrysalis, with two further singles released on the Nymphaea Pink Sensation label in 1990, before the band themselves split up.[1]
The group made the cover of NME on 19 September 19 1987, despite only having a brief half-page feature. This was because the entire contents of a themed issue on censorship (which would have had a painting used on Dead Kennedys' album Frankenchrist, then the subject of an obscenity trial in the USA, on the cover) had themselves been censored, with Stuart Cosgrove sacked from the paper, and a new cover had to be designed at very short notice.
Forgotten Astronaut Records have procured the licence for the unreleased album Scarlet, and released the album in late 2019. It was released on both CD and vinyl with the CD containing two bonus tracks, the Flood produced "Sweet Dreams Pretty Baby", and the Pat Collier produced "Days Like These".
It was revealed in 2020 that Alex Taylor had died in 2005.[4]
Anthony Cooper, who played drums on the Scarlet album passed away in 2020, and Eddie Connelly died in December 2023.
"Shop Assistants, The Fizzbombs, The Motorcycle Boy" chapter in YinPop: Women in Indie and Alternative Rock, Vol. 1: UK Bands (2014), by S. White. Fly-By-Night Books, ISBN978-0-9905386-0-8, pp. 131-148.