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Tim and Jim are the only original members of "james" still in the band. The band started in 1982, and Larry Gott and Gavan Whelan where guitarist and drummer Gavan left and was replaced by Dave, and Saul (guitar, violin, percussion), Mark (keyboards) and Andy Diagram (trumpet) joined at the same time. Andy left in 1992, and the band released (arguably) their best album, "laid", in 1993. In 1994, it was revealed that while working on Laid, they had made another album, "wah wah", which was a minimalist jam session album. The next year, it looked as if the band had come to an end.
And then came "Black Thursday". One Thursday in 1996 Larry announced that he was leaving the band to spend more time with his family, Tim announced that he was going to do some solo work with Italian film composer Angelo Badalamenti ("Booth and the Bad Angel"), and the bank manager announced that james were in debt. It looked as if "james" were going to go bust.
In 1997, Saul, Dave and Mark got back in the studio and began work on the next album, "whiplash". Adrian Oxall (guitars) joined. James were saved! "she's a star" was the band's comeback single. It went to the top end of the top 10, and james were reborn.
In 1998, Michael joined to give the band backing vocals, and the occasional guitar. They have just released "i know what i'm here for", a funky tune with weird vocal distortions. Their following album, "millionaires", should be released in september 1999.
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