Coax

The Dentists called it a day when guitarist Bob Collins left the Medway, Kent-based Brit-pop band in 1996 following the band's disappointing final album, Deep Six. Singer/guitarist Mick Murphy, bassist Mark Matthews, and drummer Rob Grigg regrouped with new guitarist Chris Flack to form Coax. After giving their new band an equally bad but far less memorable name than the Dentists, the quartet released Fear of Standing Still in early 1998. Although the album is a resounding return to form after the too-noisy and underwritten Deep Six, and is for all intents and purposes simply a Dentists album under a different name, Fear of Standing Still was virtually ignored in both the U.S. and the U.K. and Coax split before recording a follow-up. ~ Stewart Mason