When I am King

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When I am King met in New Cross in 1999, before it upped-and-came, when they shared a seminar called "Approaches to text" at Goldsmiths College. This was the beginning of a beautiful and long-lasting friendship characterised by talking lots of nonsense. It wasn't until 2007 that they combined their musical talents. The result of more of a dare than a decision. Band member, HY, had had a long running "battle of the imaginary bands" with another friend. His would be a good old-fashioned rock and roll outfit called Christopher and the Can'ts (pronounced c*nts), hers would make experimental French pop under the name, When I am King. Both bands were supposedly strictly fictional, the battle a theoretical one. That was until, Christopher began courting HY's housemate and invited her to join the Can'ts and be in a promotional shoot. Fresh from the shoot, Christopher met HY at a friend's birthday party. HY was aghast. Not only did her rival have band members, he had pictures and an image too. This flouting of the boundaries of an "imaginary battle" had laid down the gauntlet and incited HY to take action. "Do you want to be in my band?" she said to JS , a friend she secretly knew to have the killer combination of enthusiasm, cool, musical talent and twiddly knobs. "Cool, yes boss" said JS, "What will I do in the band ?" "Whatever you want" "OK. What do you do in the band?" "Whatever I can" (Sic. this is as accurate an account of the conversation as memory and the consumption of

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