[1][2] His father was Austin Patterson, a classical violinist, who played with The Edinburgh Quartet and BBC Concert Orchestra in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

[2] He undertook a succession of menial jobs and played in local west country bands, before moving to London in order to become a serious musician.

After garnering attention but ultimately no record deal with his band Empire, he travelled to Venezuela, eventually becoming a tour guide and coming close to death when attacked by a nest of brown bees in the Orinoco Delta jungle.

Shortly after this incident Justin Hawkins asked him to return to London and play bass in the newly named The Darkness, in which he himself would sing after being the keyboardist in the previous incarnation as ‘Empire.’ Poullain began a BA Honours in English literature at Bath University in 1986 but left in his second year, becoming disillusioned with the teaching and intent on becoming a writer or musician in his own right.

Poullain is a co-writer on some of the band’s most popular songs such as ‘Love Is Only A Feeling’, ‘Heart Explodes’, ‘One Way Ticket’ and ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Deserves To Die’.