Biography HOW DID IT ALL START?  WHERE IS IT ALL GOING? Find out how the Attic came to be, and what's in store for our Kaz and Shell in the future. In case you've been on, I dunno, MARS since 1996, here's some crucial info on the best, and therefore most overlooked, pop band in Britain... nay, the WORLD... Alisha's Attic!!!^_^ Karen Poole Date of Birth: 8th Jan 1971 Birthplace: Chadwell Heath, Essex Star sign: Capricorn Hair Colour: Blonde (varying shades) Eye Colour: Blue, I think? Likes: Old movies, the country, Wonder Woman, Dolphins Dislikes: Fools, worrying, Savage Garden Personality: Honest, outspoken, creative, organised Don’t Mention: “Violet the Organ Grinder”. Don’t ask me, just don’t mention it to her.^_^ Ambition: To swim with Dolphins Shelly Lena Poole Date of Birth: 20th March 1972 Birthplace: Barking, Essex Star sign: Pisces Hair Colour: Shellie has magical hair that changes colour and length at will Eye Colour: Appears to alternate between blue and green Likes: Old movies, Indian culture, Neil Diamond, unusual men, toast and Marmite Dislikes: Bad luck, bugs, squirrels Personality: Superstitious, creative, dreamy, changeable Don’t Mention: Anything in her ‘dislikes’ section. Ambition: To break America (I'd love to see that!) Aa Biography Karen and Shelly Poole are the driving force behind the pop band Alisha's Attic. Having grown up with music since they were kids, their dad being Brian Poole, front man of The Tremoloes, their wide and diverse selection of influences manifests itself as something original, quirky, clever; ...and disorientatingly beautiful. Before I go any further, let me dispel the myth that by being a 'pop' band, they are manufactured puppets. NOTHING could be further from the truth, for they are a 'band', and not a 'group'. Groups have no talent whatsoever, and Alisha's Attic have talent in abundance; doing all their music, lyrics, singing live and basically having more talent in their little finger than, say, S-Club 7 have in their entire collective mass!! Anyway anyway anyway, they grew up in Barking, Essex, having a mostly peaceful and happy childhood. The two of them had very different interests and hobbies from one another, Karen taking dancing lessons whilst Shelly took guitar and piano lessons. They honed their vocal talents at primary school in the choir, which they described as being 'uncool' at the time. Still, they stuck with it, not yet realising that it would pay off one day. Going on to secondary school (natrually), they began to become more interested in music (It was around this time that they had a first brief stint at pop, under the name of Keren and Chelle. Information is short, but they recorded a few songs, including the funny but cool 'Sugar Daddy', much talked about in FanAttic circles. This was not their time for fame, however). Despite being thought of as odd, they had no real trouble, save for a time when some unsavoury individual threw an orange at Shelly out of spite. Karen and her fists quickly resolved the dispute, however.^_^ Upon leaving school, Karen and Shelly set off for pastures new; both getting their own place (Co-incidentally on the same street!!) and separate jobs, Karen as a toy-shop assistant, and Shelly as a nursery school teacher. All the while, they continued writing music and sending demo tapes off to label after label, without much success (More often getting asked out on dates instead). Disappointed but undeterred, they decided one New year's eve to make a bigger go of it, to really get organised and show their potential. They got together with Terry (Tel-Boy) Martin, an old friend, and converted his (?) attic into a recording studio (Can U see where this is going?). Now they could do better demos, and with a much better chance of being accepted by a record label, it was only a short matter of time before they were pleasantly surprised... ...And lo! A copy of their music found its way into the hands of Dave Stewart of Eurythmics fame!! As a man with a similar musical style, he asked to meet them. When they finally did, they hit it off, and began their work in earnest. Working on jazzing the songs up, promotion, artwork, and the final creation of Alisha, a 'Dangel' (Half-devil-half-angel), the Poole sisters' beautiful baby was finally born. 'Alisha Rules The World' made its debut along with kaz and Shell in the latter half of 1996. Having already released 'I Am I Feel' beforehand, they had staked their claim and were now ready to take it further. They had 4 singles from the album, all reaching the top 20, and gained a massive fan-base, ranging from Japan to parts of the States. Their second album, Illumina, showed a vastly different image and sound to ARTW. Whilst the fans lapped it up, it did not recieve as much promotion as it's predecessor, and so its single releases were not as well received by the public. The girls realised, by the end of Illumina, that they were disillusioned by the music world, finding it too robotic and joyless. They almost didn't make a third album, but they were finally persuaded by Mercury to try. They were lent the use of a warehouse in Battersea, where they wrote some new songs whilst listening to oldies classics from Mamas and Papas, Simon and Garfunkel and Dusty Springfield. Being inspired once more, they had their spark back!! These new songs were more organic, more simplistic and uncluttered. Once done there, they went back to Mercury, where Howard Berman convinced them, albeit barely, to go and see Bill Bottrell, a big-shot American producer, at his home in Mendocino, California. He'd worked with the likes of Michael Jackson, Shelby Lynne and Sheryl Crow. Once they met him, they changed their mind instantly, and he agreed to work with them. For two months, they stayed; recording, having campfires on the beach, and just basically enjoying themselves; something which they hadn’t done for a long while. Finally, they returned in April 2001, releasing the first single from their new material, 'Push It All Aside'. Whilst it didn’t reach the dizzying success the fans and they hoped and wished for, it did better than the last single, reaching number 14 in the charts. This was a good start, the promise of better things to come, they had been touring the UK, doing smaller, more intimate gigs for the loyal fans, performed at the Fleadh Festival, and had hopes for a lounge-style tour. And Carl and I bore witness to the second of their amazing performances at the Kashmir Klub in London. Things were definitely looking up. They released their second single, ‘Pretender Got My Heart’ in June, to be followed by the album, ‘The House We Built’. In what many fans still believe to be a cruelly ironic show of media spite, ‘Pretender’, thought to be their best song from the album, entered at only 43 in the charts. This was blamed squarely on the total lack of promotion and airplay it received, Radio 2 (God bless them) being the *only* big radio station to truly give them the time of day. This did not bode well for the album either, entering at 52(?), and dropping out soon after. Still, the fans tried to stay optimistic for Karen and Shelly, hoping that things could get better… shortly after, a joint statement from the girls was issued; Dear All, Wanted you to be the first to know that Mercury Records have not taken up the Option for our 4th album. It's been a long time coming, and we're relieved to finally be free to work on new interesting musical avenues without the obstacles we've been enduring for years. To our fans....this won't be the last you'll hear from us....we've already started some new projects and collaborations which are well underway, so this is not the end...it's the beginning!! We'll keep you all posted, but thank you for your continuing support for Alisha's Attic. Though the letter suggested otherwise, it was hard not to feel like Alisha’s Attic - Karen, Shelly, fans and all - had been cheated. Hope still lay, however, in Karen’s words; that it was *not* the end. Eventually, the fan community began to calm down and wait to hear what would be. Moving on to the now… the fans are still here. Alisha’s Attic, although on hold for the time being, is still here. Both Karen and Shelly have a superb opportunity to take a breather and do a whole host of things previously made impossible. Karen is a lyricist for Native Management, asn has been making some formidable alliances with names such as Kylie and Dannii Minogue, Amy Studt, Sugababes and Janet Jackson! Shelly has changed the spelling of her name, married Ally McErlaine of Texas fame and is embarking on a ‘solo’ project. She’s already been approached by three labels, so things look very good.^_^ What is in store for our Heroines next? Only time will tell. Have faith, people, these are two great ladies. Let’s give ‘em all the support we can!^_^