Brothers Greg and Kevin Whelan formed their band in the late '80s, recruiting former high school colleague Charles Bissell in 1989 as a guitarist for a proposed gig supporting The Fixx, which in the end was cancelled.
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By this point drummer MacDonald was married with a young family and had moved out, but the other three members were still living together in the same house in Fort Lee, New Jersey, where MacDonald would join them to record new material when he was able to.
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The band have gained a reputation for their intense live shows - following a gig at the University of London Union in London in March 2006, The Guardian declared that "on this form the Wrens are surely one of the best live bands in the world".
Press was 19 years old when the Second World War started, and joined the Women's Royal Naval Service (WRNS, "the Wrens").
Bayard was commissioned into the "Wrens" (WRNS), the Women's Royal Naval Service, becoming a First Officer (equivalent to a Lieutenant commander).