The line-up of the band has included Cliff Jones (guitarist/vocalist), Nick "Baz" Crowe (drummer), James Riseboro (keyboardist), Nigel Hoyle (bassist) and Charley Stone.

Gay Dad were formed in 1994 by former Mojo and The Face journalist Cliff Jones and art magazine publisher Nick Crowe (drums), along with their Berkshire teenage friends Dominic S (vocals), Tim Forster (keyboards), and bassist Nigel Hoyle, who had originally played in a band called Brutus with S a year or two earlier.

Jones, S, Forster and Crowe had played together in various incarnations of Gay Dad ten years previously, such as The Timothy and the Astral Projection Society.

Although it was only intended to win them some live dates, the demo attracted keen record label interest from Island, Chrysalis, Mercury, EMI and others.

[1] With Charley Stone (formerly of Salad) joining as a live guitarist to add some of the overdubbed guitar parts from their multi-layered sound, they toured the UK in early 1998, before starting recording sessions at RAK Studios in Regents Park with the record producer Tony Visconti and engineer Mark Frith who had co-produced the demos that got the band signed.

The album sessions relocated to The Dairy studio in Brixton with producers/sound engineers Gary Langan (ex-Art of Noise) and Chris Hughes.

[1] Meanwhile, test pressings of the first single, made for the label bosses and marketing team at London, found their way to DJ Mark Radcliffe, then presenting on BBC Radio 1.

The band generated a huge amount of interest from the media,[2] and Gay Dad were hailed as the "saviours" of British rock by magazines such as Select and Melody Maker.

[1] Some critics claimed that the over-the-top hype was an example of nepotism in the industry at the time, as band leader Cliff Jones had only recently stopped working in the music press himself.

Gay Dad's debut album Leisure Noise, co-produced by Chris Hughes and Mark Frith, was released in June 1999.

[5] The band started to work on a second album at The Cure's Parkgate studios in Sussex but keyboard player Riseboro left soon after due to musical differences.

was used in a Mitsubishi car advertisement,[7] the football video game FIFA 2000, and TV shows including Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) and The Naked Chef.

[9] Crowe went on to write for Prospect magazine, contributing music criticism and essays, while bringing up his children on a small holding on Exmoor.