Elastica

Elastica were a pop-punk outfit who rose to fame in the nineties, partly due to lead singer Justine Frischmann's relationship with Blur's Damon Albarn. The band enjoyed brief success on both sides of the Atlantic early on, before suffering inter-band difficulties, and eventually they reached their demise in 2003. Before Albarn, Frishmann went out with Brett Anderson, and together they formed Suede. She played guitar for the band even when Bernard Butler joined the group, but soon left Suede when her relationship with Anderson ended. Elastica were born in 1993 when Frischmann brought in guitarist Donna Matthews, Justine Welch on drums, and Annie Holland on bass, who replied to an advert in the press. They established their punk rock sound with their first single 'Stutter', released at the climax of '93. They had a favourable run with the press and the single sold out rapidly, due to heavy radio airplay and rave reviews.

Elastica's Quiet Year

1994 was a quiet year for the band, though it was at this point that Frischmann's relationship with Albarn came to light, and kept their name in the public domain. 'Connection' was the successful second single, though the band were accused of stealing their musical idea's from punk band Wire. They claimed that the melody for 'Stutter' was taken from Wire's 'I Am The Fly', and 'Connection' stole the keyboard riff from 'Three Girl Rhumba'. They were eventually taken to court by Wire's publishers in March 1995, just when Elastica were on the verge of releasing their debut album. For a double whammy, the Strangler's publishers also took the band to court, claiming they ripped off their 'No More Heroes' in Elastica's new single 'Waking Up'. Luckily, both cases were settled out of court before Elastica was released.

The album got to number one in the British charts, becoming the fastest-selling debut in the country, even beating Oasis' Defnitely Maybe seven months earlier. Elastica managed to break America with 'Connection', where the song was a major radio hit. Things were going extremely well for the band, and they even replaced Sinead O'Connor on the 1995 Lollapalooza tour, when Annie Holland announced she was leaving Elastica. The band struggled to carry on, with a second album seeming years away, splitting up looked like their only option. Frischmann also broke up with Albarn, adding personal pressures to the band's eminent breakup. Donna Matthews left the band in 1999, but Holland returned to the group, along with new guitarist Paul Jones and keyboardists Mew and Dave Bush. Surprising everyone, a six-track EP appeared as a result of these new creative mediums in '99, and Elastica's highly anticipated second album The Menace was finally released in 2001, a whole six years after their first album. Unfortunately a year later, after releasing farewell single 'Mad Dog', the band announced their breakup. Since then hit single 'Connection' has been used for the title track to hit comedy series Trigger Happy TV.

Musical Pioneers

Elastica were not only pop-punk pioneers, fitting in with the Britpop vibe of bands like Supergrass, Pulp, Cast and Ash, but they also did a lot for women in rock. The nineties witnessed the emergence of a number of female fronted guitar bands, including the likes of Echobelly, Sleeper, Lush and St Etienne. Especially in the years 1995-6, the culture of the 'ladette' was ripe; where women all over the nation were standing up for their Fender-loving, beer drinking tendencies, and set out to show men that girls can rock too. Elastica may have only had a short fling with the music press, but their significance for the history of pop music remains large.

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