Nick Lowe (bass, guitars and vocals), Brinsley Schwarz (guitar, piano and vocals) and Barry Landeman (keyboards and vocals) met at Woodbridge boarding school in Suffolk, forming Sounds 4+1. The group didn't have a drummer, so Landeman said he would play drums. However, having no drums at the start, he would hit whatever he could find to create a drumming sound. Lowe also had no bass guitar, resulting in him playing a tea chest bass (a tea chest with a broom handle and a piece of string) until he made his own bass guitar, copied from a Vox bass guitar, and then finally bought a Hofner bass. The group played at school functions and also an RAF airbase in Germany, summer 1964. The group ceased to exist when Nick Lowe was asked to leave the school and Brinsley Schwarz transferred to a school near his family home in Tunbridge Wells. Schwarz (guitar and vocals) formed a new group, Three's a Crowd, with Pete Whale (drums) and Dave Cottam (bass) but, in 1967, they renamed themselves the more fashionable Kippington Lodge. The group's manager, Malcolm Glazier, a local optician, managed to get their demo disc heard by EMI staff producer Mark Wirtz. Sessions recorded Sept. 5, 1967 were not successful but later that month a second session produced "Lady on a Bicycle" as well as "Land of Sea", that was shelved as Wirtz wanted Keith West's composition of "Shy Boy" for an A-side. The group rehearsed the song for several weeks, but, upon turning up at Abbey Road Studios, found that session musicians were present to record the track, with only Brinsley singing. Once "Shy Boy" was recorded and, because it had an organ on it, Landeman was contacted by Schwarz to join the group. Schwarz and Landeman then dumped Dave Cottam from the group and brought Nick Lowe in as replacement before the second single,"Rumours", was recorded. Again session musicians were used for the song and also for the B-side, "And She Cried". Even though Landeman and Schwarz had written "And She Cried", The Ivy League, Big Jim Sullivan, Herbie Flowers and other session musicians cut the track.