The Weeds were a short-lived indie pop

Indie pop

Indie pop is a genre of alternative rock music that originated in the United Kingdom in the mid 1980s, with its roots in the Scottish post-punk bands on the Postcard Records label in the early '80s, such as Orange Juice, Josef K and Aztec Camera, and the dominant UK independent band of the mid...

 band formed in Manchester

Manchester

Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 in 1986 who were "fronted by Andrew Berry...'China Doll' was their debut single and they had split up before it had even been released".

The band featured Simon Wolstencroft

Simon Wolstencroft

Simon Wolstencroft is a musician from Manchester, England, best known for playing drums with The Fall between June 1986 and August 1997.Wolstencroft was a member of an early incarnation of The Stone Roses; having previously been a member of The Weeds and The Colourfield. He was also drummer for...

; latterly of The Fall and The Stone Roses

The Stone Roses

The Stone Roses are an English alternative rock band formed in Manchester in 1983. They were one of the pioneering groups of the Madchester movement that was active during the late 1980s and early 1990s...

, Andrew Berry

Andrew Berry

Andrew Berry is a British Alfred Wallace historian and an Organismic and Evolutionary Biology lecturer at Harvard University. He has published numerous works including his 2003 book Infinite tropics: an Alfred Russel Wallace anthology , as well as DNA: The Secret of Life with James D. Watson...

 - a close friend of Johnny Marr

Johnny Marr

Johnny Marr is an English musician and songwriter. Marr rose to fame in the 1980s as the guitarist in The Smiths, with whom he formed a prolific songwriting partnership with Morrissey. Marr has been a member of Electronic, The The, and Modest Mouse...

 and Morrissey

Morrissey

Steven Patrick Morrissey , known as Morrissey, is an English singer and lyricist. He rose to prominence in the 1980s as the lyricist and vocalist of the alternative rock band The Smiths. The band was highly successful in the United Kingdom but broke up in 1987, and Morrissey began a solo career,...

, Nick Arrojo

Nick Arrojo

Nick Arrojo is a celebrity hair stylist based in the SoHo neighborhood of New York City.Born in Manchester, England, Arrojo worked as a stylist for Vidal Sassoon, Wella International, and Bumble & Bumble salons before starting his own studio in downtown Manhattan in September 2001, the Arrojo...

 and Carrie Lawson - one time girlfriend of early Fall drummer Karl Burns

Karl Burns

Karl Burns is a British musician best known as drummer for The Fall, featuring in many incarnations of the band between 1977 and 1998....

.

Berry and Wolstencroft formed the band in 1986 and played several gigs around Manchester (including supporting Happy Mondays

Happy Mondays

Happy Mondays are an English alternative rock band from Salford, Greater Manchester. Formed in 1980, the band's original line-up was Shaun Ryder on lead vocals, his brother Paul Ryder on bass, lead guitarist Mark Day, keyboardist Paul Davis, and drummer Gary Whelan...

 at FAC 151

Factory Records catalogue

The following is a list of items with recorded Factory Records numbers. The list primarily consists of music releases but also includes promotional graphics, film, etc. However, the list was not confined to creative output. A party , a lawsuit and a cat appear on the list along with other...

 - The Festival of The Tenth Summer) at the start of the year before recording and releasing their only single

Single (music)

In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...

 "China Doll" on Marc Riley

Marc Riley

Marc Riley is a British musician, alternative rock critic and radio DJ on BBC 6 Music. Formerly a member of The Fall, he had his own record label, In-Tape, and also worked as a record plugger...

's In Tape label; however, before the single was actually released Wolstencroft was recruited by Mark E Smith to join The Fall following a successful support slot.

Berry and Arrojo were employed at various times as hairdressers at The Haçienda

The Haçienda

Fac 51 Haçienda was a nightclub and music venue in Manchester, England. It became most famous during the "Madchester" years of the late 1980s and early 1990s, during the 1990s it was labelled the most famous club in the world by Newsweek magazine...

club in Manchester.