Justin WelchFrom Nuneaton. Expelled from school at 15 (for swearing at a teacher). Joined Suede (where he met Justine) for a short time in 1990 and played drums on the A-side of their debut single ("Be My God"). After leaving Suede Justin joined Spitfire, where he stayed for five tours and an album. He was the first member of Elastica to be recruited by Justine when she phoned him up just after he had left Spitfire.
Legend has it that Justin threatened to leave the band if "Stutter" was the first single. He obviously thought better of it.
Any weird voices and sounds that you hear on some of Elastica's songs are most likely to have been contributed by Justin, eg. Spastica, Brighton Rock and Line Up.
| "It's ['Line Up'] about all the shit in the music industry, the kind of stuff that makes her [Justine] sick. So she says to me, 'Go on, make some puking noises.' So I did it!" |
Justin allegedly often takes the stage sans underpants. Perhaps it's a good job he's the drummer and not lead singer as a consequences of him having some Tom Jones style trouser rippage while bouncing around at the front of the stage are too horrible to even think about!
Donna's continual hairstyle changes finally took their toll on Justin last year when he for some reason decided to go into the barbers and ask for a "Grant Mitchell Special"...