In January of 1980, James Smith's band, The Containers (which, at one time, featured his friend Robyn Hitchcock of The Soft Boys on guitar) suddenly broke up and he was left on his own. "Sod it!" he thought. Armed only with his guitar, a drum machine and his flatmate's girlfriend, Jill Fricker, to sing backup vocals, he forged ahead with his new project: The Beach Bullies.