To complete the lineup, the band recruited Larne bassist Michael McKeegan. Ewing's departure in early preceded the arrivals of his replacement Graham Hopkins , as well as Martin McCarrick on guitar and cello.
Neil Cooper replaced Hopkins in McCarrick departed in , and the band have remained a three-piece ever since. The band have released 14 full-length studio albums and sold over two million albums worldwide. While attending a charity gig at the Jordanstown Polytechnic in , Andy Cairns noticed Fyfe Ewing playing drums in a punk covers band. The two spoke afterwards and agreed to meet for rehearsal in Fyfe's house in Larne with Andy playing a small practice amp and Fyfe playing his kit with brushes.
They followed this up with another four track demo tape Meat Abstract. Their sound was becoming highly influenced by artists of the indie rock movement such as The Jesus Lizard , Big Black , and The Membranes as well as new beat disco acts such as Belgian outfit Erotic Dissidents.
The single was limited to 1, copies and released on the band's own Multifuckinational Records. During the summer of that year, the band made its first tour through the United Kingdom with The Beyond , catching the attention of influential DJ John Peel along the way.
The band's early years followed the familiar pattern of hard graft on the local alternative music scene, with Cairns often putting in a full day at the Michelin tyre factory where he worked as a quality controller , then speeding across Northern Ireland in order to make it to gigs. Their use of guitar feedback as a "fourth instrument" and unconventional song structures, combined with a darkly original approach to lyrics and imaginative use of samples pulled from cult movies and obscure documentaries, led them to be spotted in by London-based independent label Wiiija Records.
