I met Toddy working in France on Jonny's "Sensation" album while I was still in Flowered Up, when that had split me and Toddy started working together getting some tunes going. We decided it would be good to try a singer and through a friend we were introduced to Saffron who came down, did the singing and decided to join us. Jonny joined us later when Toddy was ill and we needed a stand in for a gig, he never left after that. Dave joined us a year ago through word of mouth(y).

How does it feel (currently!) to be bigger in America than in your home country?

We're much happier to have done TOTP (Top Of The Pops) than Conan O'Brien; the whole American thing seems very remote, like a weird dream, when you're not out there. We're really pleased with the way UK & Germany are going for us at the moment so we're not thinking about the USA for a while.

Do you ever have "my old band's better than your old band" arguments?

No, we know they were all crap. Actually we're all quite big fans of each other's back catalogues (except maybe Jonny's early demos). We do like to see a good photo of Dave when he was in Bow Wow Wow, naked & quiffed normally.

What bands have been the biggest influence on Republica?

That's a hard one really, we don't all have the same tastes really. The common ones are Beck and New Order but outside that the list runs into thousands.

Being in Flowered Up looked like a lot of fun. Was that the case, and was baggy a good scene to be a part of?

It had its ups and downs but the tours were completely demented, we used to lose it on a nightly basis. I suppose really it was fun but I didn't miss it when it had gone, the last few months were hell. The sad thing about the whole baggy scene is that short of Shaun Ryder and maybe The Charlatans it never really produced an act that had any sort of longevity, they'd all imploded within a year or two.

Saffron is a dynamic front-woman to say the least. What do you think she'd be doing if she wasn't in a band?

Management I should think! No I don't really know on that one, she's always wanted to be a star.

Do you think Republica run the risk of falling foul of the female-fronted band syndrome - i.e. the rest of the band getting little or no attention, like the blokes in Sleeper?

Why do people think that we want to get any attention, we're happy if we get a name check and moan when we have to do photos! We don't mind it at all as we don't have to deal with the recognition and the stalkers. There is the danger of getting labelled along with other bands that you sound nothing like purely because your singer is female but that's really just lazy journalism.

What was appearing on TOTP like? Is it a big party, or more of a conveyor belt experience?

A bit of both really, the Beeb carries on around you and you have to be certain places at certain times but we tend to socialise anyway. We've known Gavin the drummer from Bush for years and had played with them in LA so we chewed the cud with them for a while, we met the Spice Girls (I wish I had the camera on me when Mel B was kissing the top of Toddy's bald head!) and the Artist. In between we did what we do best and hit the subsidised bar. It was also Ric Blaxhill's last TOTP so there was a booze up afterwards. We decided it was a great day in pop for us lot.

Finally, what are Republica's plans for 97?

A month in Europe with the Fun Lovin Criminals starting in Amsterdam on Saturday. Back into the UK with FLC again and then we haven't really decided, we're booked to do quite a few festivals in the summer and maybe Japan will kick off. I need a holiday soon to recharge my pop batteries as well. All that and an album to write. There is no peace for the wicked.

We've also just put the finishing touches to a version of "Are Friends Electric"? with The Numan hisself. It came out so well we're thinking of putting it out as a single, now if that doesn't start a backlash I don't know what will!