Meanwhile, Back In Communist Russia...

Meanwhile, Back in Communist Russia... was a band from Oxford, UK. The group was founded in 1999 by guitarist and sampler Pete Williams, keyboardist Tim Croston, singer Ed Carder, guitarist James Shames, singer Emily Gray, and guitarist and drum machine operator Mark Halloran; all students at the University of Oxford. Ed left fairly early in the band's history, and Ollie Clueit joined on bass. Pete would later leave shortly after their debut album Indian Ink was released, and Mark departed during the recording of their follow-up My Elixir; My Poison. The band eventually split in 2004. Their style, compared by some to Mogwai and Arab Strap, saw Gray deliver self-penned monologues over a wall of guitar noise and samples guided by a strong beat. Morning After Pill, from their debut album Indian Ink was voted 11th in John Peel's Festive Fifty of 2001, and My Elixir; My Poison was also highly acclaimed. During their existence they played gigs with Smog, Pulp and Snow Patrol, and recorded several radio sessions both for John Peel and for London's XFM. Somewhat more ignominously, they also won a listeners' poll of Worst Band Name for BBC Radio 1 in 2003. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.