Hooking legions of fans with their ‘caffeine addict’ style sound, becoming firm favourite of broadcaster legend, John Peel and risking death by electric shock at east German festivals were all in a day’s work for Madchester-era band, New Fast Automatic Daffodils.

Nicknamed New FADs, the band was formed in 1988 at a heavy, all night party.

“I think they thought I was someone else but I was in no fit state to put them straight, so that’s how it all began.

“We chose our name as a contrast to all the groups who had one word titles – it came from a Liverpool beat poet who mashed up Wordsworth.”Despite having no strong musical backgrounds between them, they quickly learnt how to play their instruments the right way up and how to get their audiences going with an ever changing sound that straddled alt-rock, funk and baggy.

“Someone told us that playing three notes together made a chord and we mixed that with a lot of jumping around and shouting and we were set.

“It was the first band we had been in which had songs with a start and an end, which was quite novel.

“The most up to date music teachers at our schools would talk about was composers like Rachmaninoff, so we didn’t learn a lot whilst there.

“It makes me laugh thinking about how different it is for kids in bands nowadays who know so much about music before they even start.

“But it was easier to start up a band then, as long as you had the energy, especially because a lot of musicians like us realised that you could get quite a decent amount to live on by enrolling onto Thatcher’s enterprise allowance scheme and pitching your band as your business.

“One guy I knew chose hamster breeding – maybe we’d have been better at that, who knows.”

Coming into their fore at a time music lovers’ eyes were fixed firmly on the city helped them to quickly gather a strong following and a record deal on the same label as Inspiral Carpets.

“It was a good time to be in a band because a lot of people were coming to Manchester to see what was happening.

“We got an early break when we supported James on their tour at the Royal Albert Hall and a write up from John Robb, which I think helped us get signed.

“We were described as looking like we’d had too much coffee before breakfast. I like to think we were playing motivational music with nervous energy but the main point was that we were all having a great laugh and partying hard whilst doing it.”

They were snapped up by Belgium record label, Play it Again Sam where they released their debut album, Pigeon Hole, which found its way into the top 50 and is due to be re-released later this year.

This success was replaced with the excitement over being asked to record a total of three Peel sessions.

“We all said we would’ve been happy to give up there and then after that, they were the highlights of our time together.”

Andy Spearpoint, former singer of New Fast Automatic Daffodils
But the lure of good slots at British festivals, including Reading where they were voted best live band by NME, and European tours put that thought to bed and the band soon found themselves gigging constantly around the UK as well as in Belgium, France and East-Central Europe, where they saw first hand the dismantling of the iron curtain.

“It was like one long party.

“We loved playing gigs, it was where we were at our most energetic, and we got the chance to play to good festival crowds as well as at alternative venues across Europe, which were booked by people who were in it for the music, not the money.

“One of the strangest places we played was definitely at Meissen in East Germany, just after the wall started to come down.

“We arrived at the end of the town’s several day festival, so everyone was completely out of it and they’d hired equipment from the west which no one knew how to use.

“Our engineer strongly advised us not to play because there was a large chance we’d get electrocuted but we managed to come to some sort of agreement with the organisers and went on – it was great.”

They also went to the USA on two tours before and released two more albums before the band broke up in 1995 after a gig at the Hacienda to focus on different projects, a decision that fans on social media still want to see reversed.

“We didn’t realise at the time that the Hacienda show would be our last, although someone who was trying to steal a pair of our bongos joked that it was. It was a fantastic gig though so at least we went out on a high.

“Everything about being in the band was hilarious and great at the same time – it all just made us laugh constantly but by that time people had other commitments so it just felt like a natural time to end.

“We’ve talked about reforming and it would be fun but I think that there’s nothing more middle-aged man than a group trying to relive their youth, when we’re not the same people.”

After a short-lived stint as a primary teacher Andy became a freelance music tutor and swapped wild city life for turbulent Pennine weather in 2001 before forming eight piece acoustic band, String Fellows, a few years later.

“We were all singers looking for other blokes to sing with – at that time the only other option to us was to join a community choir but that wasn’t the sort of thing we were looking for.

“I wasn’t sure what would happen but we gelled and it’s working really well. There are so many musical people in the area, it’s a great place to be.”

The String Fellows will perform at Bar 1:22 with Kimber’s Men on October 16.