Before they began Fiction Factory in 1982, Kevin Patterson (vocals) and Eddie Jordan (keyboards) had played in the band Street People around 1978, performing original songs and covers of Magazine and Ultravox!
songs, before forming ska band the Rude Boys (later shortened to the RBs) with Grant Taylor (trumpet) and Chic Medley (guitar).
[1] The eight-piece RBs played numerous live gigs, released an album and two singles, but due to musical differences Patterson, Jordan and Medley left the band to form Fiction Factory.
Initially thought of as a song writing unit for other artists, they eventually enlisted Graham McGregor (bass guitar) and Mike Ogletree (drums and percussion), a former member of Simple Minds and Café Jacques, to form a proper band.
Influences on Fiction Factory included Magazine, Kraftwerk, and Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD), whom Patterson described as "a big favourite".
Patterson and Medley recorded the next studio album with session musicians, including keyboardist Paul Wishart and brothers Graham and Neil Weir of OMD.