After the demise of the popular late-'80s indie band the Razorcuts, singer/guitarist Gregory Webster did time in a couple of minor and short-lived side project bands, the Carousel and Saturn V, in his native Oxford, England, before forming Sportique in 1997. Although the band is otherwise entirely composed of people with other musical duties (keyboardist and singer Amelia Fletcher and bassist Rob Pursey have worked together in Talulah Gosh, Heavenly, Marine Research, and Tender Trap; and drummer Mark Flunder was in both the Television Personalities and the McTells, among others), Sportique has thrived, even managing more releases than the Razorcuts did during their four-year run.

Sportique released three singles in 1998, The Kids Are Solid Gold, If You Ever Change Your Mind, and Tiny Clues, all on the cumbersomely-named U.K. indie Where It's At Is Where You Are. Their debut album, Black Is a Very Popular Colour, came out in April 1999 on the slightly larger indie Matinee Recordings, which also released an all-new single, Love and Remains, in July of that year. A second album, Modern Museums, followed in the summer of 2002. ~ Stewart Mason, Rovi