Forming together in late 1997, Oxford, England's retro-futurists the Animalhouse combined bassist Hari T and ex-Mystics (and ex-Supergrass helper) Sam Williams with the duo of Mark Gardner and Laurence 'Loz' Colbert -- two ex-members of the much-favored shoegazing band Ride. Although the Animalhouse were part of a large number of bands to emerge out of the ashes of popular early-'90s British indie-guitar bands, their fusion of electronics and upbeat '60s psychedelia garnered a significant amount of attention from older fans as well as the English press.

However, the theme from the start seemed to be of taking one's time. After a debut gig in 1997 at London's Highbury Garage (as part of Shifty Disco's "Show Off" night), it wasn't until June of 1998 that they returned with their first official tour. The band were eager to start releasing material but soon found themselves in a bit of a legal scrap. The creators of the #National Lampoon film series had problems with the band's name and the band soon added a "the" in front of their title. Nevertheless, it took almost two years for significant material to arise. After the distribution of some promos, Boilerhouse put out the band's first release in April of 2000, the Small EP. ~ Dean Carlson, Rovi