About Fuzzbox
We've Got a Fuzzbox and We're Gonna Use It!!, often shortened to Fuzzbox, are a British alternative rock group. Formed in Birmingham in 1985, the all-female quartet originally consisted of Vix , Magz , Jo Dunne and Tina O'Neill. The band's name was shortened to Fuzzbox for the US release of their debut studio album. They disbanded in 1990 after releasing two studio albums and reunited in 2010 for a series of concerts. A second reunion was confirmed in 2015.
The original band members, who were from Moseley, Sheldon and Acocks Green in Birmingham, formed the group in 1985, after Vix met Jo at school. Their name was chosen after they bought a guitar distortion pedal and Maggie Dunne stated: "We've got a fuzzbox and we're gonna use it!"
Their first release, in March 1986, was an EP which included "XX Sex" and "Rules and Regulations", with the fuzzbox featuring prominently, which reached No. 41 in the UK charts. This proved a huge success for the group: while not reaching the Top 40, the Vindaloo Records release remained in the Indie chart for 25 weeks. This led to tours of the UK and Europe and, in December that year, their debut album, Bostin' Steve Austin, was released . This album spawned the band's first Top 40 hit, "Love Is The Slug", and the minor hit "What's The Point".
In the summer of 1986 the band teamed up with their Vindaloo Records labelmates The Nightingales and Ted Chippington to record a single "Rocking with Rita ". The single, credited to the Vindaloo Summer Special, featured Fuzzbox tackling such classics as "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini" on the b-side. Further discussions led to their cover of Norman Greenbaum's hit "Spirit in the Sky", with vocals provided by Magz .
The band signed to WEA and, for their next album, Big Bang! , made an abrupt change and reinvented themselves as a slick dance-pop vocal group. The songs "Pink Sunshine", "Fast Forward Futurama" and "International Rescue" were all produced by Andy Richards and co-written by Liam Sternberg. The first three singles from the album, "International Rescue" , "Pink Sunshine" and "Self!" , all reached the UK Top 30, and a fourth single released from the album, a cover of Yoko Ono's "Walking on Thin Ice", peaked at No. 76. "Self!" also became the group's only charting single in the United States when it peaked at number 16 on the Billboard Modern Rock chart and number 35 on Billboard's Dance Music Club Play chart.
In 1990, they began work on a new album entitled Out Of This World, but the project was halted after the release of the first single "Your Loss, My Gain" due to 'musical differences'. Perks decided to continue a solo career under the name of Vix, whilst the other three members left the music industry. They reunited in 2008 and appeared at the Birmingham Pride festival. Previously unreleased material was issued as Fuzz and Nonsense and From Rules and Regulations to Pink Sunshine, featuring tracks originally slated for Out Of This World. An album was later released of their two radio sessions for the late John Peel and sessions for Janice Long's show, entitled Love Is a Slug: Complete BBC Sessions. Peel-show listeners voted "Rules and Regulations" number 31 in the Festive Fifty in 1986.
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