After half a decade playing the London toilet circuit and constantly sending out demos, My Drug Hell finally found a record deal with the US based independent Shimmydisc, on the condition they paid for recordings.
By a twist of fate singer Tim Briffa's grandmother had died the week before, leaving him £2500; and so the band promptly booked a week in a vintage eight track studio in the East End of London.

The album was around half complete when Shimmydisc went bust. Tim started shopping around the half-finished album to scant response, when he happened to strike up a conversation with a fellow customer in the Music and Video Exchange in Notting Hill who mentioned he was setting up a record label. Tim went back to his studio, played him the tape and was offered a deal on the spot.

Diversity Recordings released two 7" only singles from the material so far recorded. "You Were Right, I Was Wrong" went into the Indie charts at No 5, while "Girl At The Bus Stop" was awarded Single Of The Week on Radio One's Evening Session and spent twelve weeks in and out of the Independent Top 30. It may well have done better had a flood at the pressing plant ensured that the record wouldn't be available until two months after the Evening Session had stopped playing it.

The "Curse of My Drug Hell" seemed to gather momentum around this time. On the day of the video shoot for Bus Stop, drummer Joe Bultitude announced he was leaving the band. In order to complete the video, Tim had to slick his hair back and mime the drum part himself. (Despite this and the fact that it had been shot on Super 8 for £350, it went on to be voted best video on MTV's Alternative Nation.)

Joe eventually rejoined, but problems continued to surround the band and the album they were (still) trying to finish. Half the completed master mixes had already been ruined by a faulty tape machine, the front cover artwork had been lost by a magazine doing a feature on the group and Joe quit the band and returned twice more. Finally though, he left again, but this time there was no turning back, and he was replaced by Brighton sticksman Raife Burchell. The live shows and demeanour of the band improved dramatically.

Eventually, the album just needed one more track for completion. Owing to various technical hitches, "Jinx's Hole" had been re-recorded three times in three different studios.

Mercifully, Diversity had struck two foreign licensing deals before going bust and 'This Is My Drug Hell' at last came out in Australia and the US to unanimously good reviews, one going so far as to call it "the best album ever" (!!??). In the US, the album spent twelve weeks in the CMJ College Charts, while Bus Stop was the No 1 Most Requested Track on every commercial radio station it was played on, (For 8 weeks running in Connecticut and 12 weeks running in New Jersey!). In Australia Bus Stop made No 57 in the year's Hot 100 on Triple J (the countrys biggest station)

Despite the growing reaction abroad the band were still unable to find a deal in their own country and so borrowed money to put the album out themselves in the UK on their own Voltone label, and re-released "Girl At The Bus Stop" (on cd as well as 7" this time.)

Although originally recorded on a four track on a second hand roll of tape the song was voted Single Of The Week on several stations around the UK including Steve Taylor's show on XFM and Mark Goodier's weekend show on Radio One. It was also adopted as part of a six month TV ad campaign for Miller Genuine Draft beer in the US and UK, and has been used in two US feature films.

As My Drug Hell released their final single 'Maybe We Could Fly' off the first album another band change occurred. Paul Donnelly left to become a full time carpenter. After several false-starts the band now includes Tim, David Preston on bass and Sebastian Kellig on drums. In 2010 they released the long-awaited follow up album My Drug Hell 2 and are currently at work on their third provisionally entitled The Good times Are All Gone.

INSTRUMENT PLAYED: Rythm Guitar, Harmonica, Autoharp

CURRENT RESIDENCE: Shepherds Bush, London

STAR SIGN: Caesarian

HOBBIES/INTERESTS: Yoga, mysticism, alternative medicine, mediumship, sleeping. I'm kind of interested in politics, but it tends to make me depressed

PREVIOUS EMPLOYMENT: Fry Chef, film extra, cleaner for the Transcendental Meditation centre, graveyard renovator, busker

EARLIEST MEMORIES: Being pushed down a hill in my pram by my grandmother. (She would let me go and then catch me again, while l would make gurgling noises)

FIRST RECORD THAT TURNED YOU ON TO ROCK'N'ROLL: Album: Revolver-Beatles. Single: I'm a Believer-Monkees

LAST RECORD BOUGHT: Jacques Brel-Jacques Brel

FAVOURITE BOOKS: Lost in Music by Giles Smith; How To Be In A Pop Group by Alan Jenkins; The Master Game by Robert S De Ropp; Wonderland Avenue by Danny Sugerman, the best book l've read in the last couple of years l found in a bin on Portobello Road called Bed Of Nails-the story of the Amazing Blondini, about an escapologist from the thirties who was raised in a circus among the freakshows

FAVOURITE FILMS: Performance, Room at the Top, Cool Hand Luke,The Graduate, This is Spinal Tap, Godfather 2

FAVOURITE TV PROGRAMME: The Day Today, the Larry Sanders Show, League Of Gentlemen, Green Wing

FAVOURITE COLOUR: Pink/Black

FAVOURITE DRINK: Coffee

FAVOURITE VEGETABLE: Mushroom, possibly potato

FAVOURITE CURRENT BANDS: Soundtrack of Our Lives, quite like The Coral

FAVOURITE ALBUMS: Love-Forever Changes, Who-Sell Out, the Velvet Underground and Nico, Jacques Brel 67, Scott Walker-Scott 2, Byrds-Notorious Byrd Brothers, Beatles-almost everything except for Mr Moonlight

FAVOURITE MDH TRACK: You Were Right, I Was Wrong

WORST HAIRCUT: 7 years ago. (l've been cutting my own ever since)

MOST DISLIKED BAND: Freddie and the Dreamers/Oasis

WORST DRINK/DRUG HELL: Luckily l usually get a total memory loss, following heavy drinking. My worst drug hell was probably after four cups of acid punch backstage at this party/club thing. The acid was just coming on and l was feeling thirsty so l took a swig out of a bottle of mineral water that was lying around, only to discover it was petrol belonging to a fire eater. Not exactly my most relaxed trip

YOUR DRUG HEAVEN: I wouldn't wish to promote the illegal use of drugs

WHAT SONG DO YOU WISH YOU HAD WRITTEN: Walk On By (Baccarach/David) Funeral Tango (Jacques Brel) or Girl (Lennon/McCartney)

IDEAL WOMAN: Anita Pallenburg, Isabel Adjani

BIGGEST TURN ON: Ball of foot

WORST/MOST FRIGHTENING GIG: A biker rally in Essex, we had to go on following a motorbike tug of war and onstage arm wrestling

BEST GIG: Most of our best gigs have probably been to less than ten people, but the Joiner's in Southampton was a lot of fun, people stealing our broken strings and arguing over our set lists. Earliest and possibly only demonstration of My Drug Hell Mania

PERSON YOU'D MOST LIKE TO SEE GET HIT BY A BUS: This is spooky, when l first answered this question, within a week I was knocked down by a bus myself. Instant Karma. So this time I'll say no comment

AMBITIONS: To make five great albums, including a concept album then split

FAMOUS PEOPLE YOU'D MOST LIKE TO MEET: Leonard Cohen; Chris Morris (Brass Eye, Jam etc); Tony Blair (so l could tell him what an idiot he is)

INSTRUMENT: Bass Guitar

RESIDENCE: Ladbroke Grove, London

STAR SIGN: Libra

HOBBIES/INTERESTS: Music, history, art, travelling, the Beatles

PREVIOUS EMPLOYMENT: Trolley boy, mechanics assistant, landscape gardening apprentice

EARLIEST MEMORIES: Getting 3rd birthday presents, watching Montreal Olympics 1976

FIRST RECORD TURNED TO R 'N' R: Dynasty- Kiss.

LAST RECORD BOUGHT: Boedekka, Hapi Nightmares

FAV BOOKS: Historical fiction- I, Claudius, Agony and the Ecstasy etc, Music Biogs, history/art books

FAV FILMS: The Deer Hunter, Belle De Jour, The Year My Voice Broke, The Longest Day, The Rutles-All You Need Is Lunch, Little Otik

FAV TV PROGRAMME: Good history/music documentaries

FAV COLOURS: Brown, orange

FAV DRINK: Mango lassi, Guinness, margherita

FAV VEGETABLE: Parsnip, potato

FAV CURRENT BANDS: Cotton Mather, the Shazam, Soundtrack Of Our Lives, Beachwood Sparks

FAV ALBUMS: All Beatles, Rolling Stones- Beggars Banquet, Small Faces-Ogden's Nut Gone Flake, Pink Floyd- Piper At The Gates Of Dawn, Kinks-Village Green Preservation Society, Byrds-Notorious Byrd Brothers, Black Sabbath-all Ozzy albums, Big Star-Number 1 Record, Bob Dylan-Highway 61 Revisited, Cotton Mathur-Kontiki, Early Motown

FAV MDH TRACK: 2am

WORST HAIRCUT: Never had one

MOST DISLIKED BAND: Don't dwell on negative energies

WORST DRINK/DRUG HELL: Passing out in phone box after too much of something

DRUG HEAVEN: You don't get to heaven on drugs, man

SONG YOU WISH YOU'D WRITTEN: The Ballad Of El Goodo by Big Star

IDEAL WOMAN: Catherine Deneuve

BIGGEST TURN-ON: Having smoke blown up my arse by fans after a gig

WORST/MOST FRIGHTENING GIG: Anything to less than 10 people

BEST GIG: Had many good gigs, but hoping best is to come

PERSON HIT BY BUS: That's just silly

AMBITIONS: Living off music has always been a goal

FAMOUS PERSON YOU'D LIKE TO MEET: Hieronymous Bosch

INSTRUMENT: Drums

RESIDENCE: Ladbroke Grove

STAR SIGN: Rock star

HOBBIES/INTERESTS: Losing it

PREVIOUS EMPLOYMENT: Wheelchair pusher

EARLIEST MEMORIES: Being with my parents on the beach in Holland and pissing down my lederhosen-because of the leather the piss turned all green, leaving green stripes down my legs

FIRST RECORD TURNED TO R 'N' R: The Who- My Generation

LAST RECORD BOUGHT: Manassas-Down the Road

FAV BOOKS: Wonderland Avenue, Basketball Diaries

FAV FILMS: Bedazzled, Performance, The Rebel, Who-Live At The Isle Of White, Gimme Shelter

FAV TV PROGRAMME: TV sucks

FAV COLOUR: Black

FAV DRINK: Doctor Pepper and milk

FAV VEGETABLE: Sauerkraut

FAV CURRENT BANDS: Kamerakino, Flashmen

FAV ALBUMS: Beatles-Revolver and Abbey Road, Stones-Exile On Main Street, Who-Tommy, Black Sabbath-Paranoid, Small Faces-Ogden's Nut Gone Flake, Pretty Things-Parachute, Neil Young-After the Goldrush and On The Beach, Dillard and Clark-The Amazing Expedition Of, Gene Clark and Gosdin Brothers, Gram Parsons-GP, Byrds-Notorious Byrd Brothers and Sweetheart of the Rodeo, Buffalo Springfield-Last Time Around

FAV MDH TRACK: Goblins (Mermaids and Things) because what more can you ask for, Jinx's Hole is fun playing

WORST HAIRCUT: Ongoing problem

MOST DISLIKED BAND: Supertramp, Abba

WORST DRINK/DRUG HELL: Started 23 years ago…

DRUG HEAVEN: …and hasn't finished yet

SONG YOU WISH YOU'D WRITTEN: I'm happy that other people usually write songs-if I would have written some of my favourite songs people would have been as frustrated with music back in the sixties as they are nowadays. Anyway if I have to choose one its got to be Syd Barrett's Bike because it's so honest

IDEAL WOMAN: My mum

BIGGEST TURN-ON: Playing for a huge crowd

WORST/MOST FRIGHTENING GIG: Yet to come

BEST GIG: Always the next one

PERSON HIT BY BUS: There are more wankers than buses out there!

AMBITIONS: Getting the odd album done

FAMOUS PERSON YOU'D LIKE TO MEET: My father

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