Marshmallow

The recording moniker employed by ex-Mutton Birds bass player Alan Gregg (b. New Zealand). After his previous band had failed to make the same impact on the UK market as in their native New Zealand, Gregg remained behind after the rest of the Mutton Birds flew home. Holed up in Stoke Newington, London he got some basic recording equipment and worked out how to use it. Bizarrely the Mutton Birds re-formed after being asked to play at a The Lord Of The Rings premiere, and it was here that Gregg took his basic recordings, enlisted his friends and contacts in New Zealand to add some meat to the bones. When he returned to England he got the album mixed and sent the demo out to a number of labels under the Marshmallow moniker. He was eventually given the opportunity to release the self-titled album through CRS Records in 2003. Stand-out tracks ‘Anytime Soon’, ‘Come Sunday’ and the haunting ‘The Ballad Of Wendi Deng’ (about media tycoon Rupert Murdoch’s wife) illustrated Gregg’s talent for creating richly melodic indie pop, with the most obvious reference points being Crowded House, the Go-Betweens, and the Magnetic Fields.