The formation of Elastica takes place in London after Justine Frischmann (guitar/vocals) leaves Suede in October 1991, just before the latter are signed. Frischmann starts jamming with Justin Welch (drums) - who’d also been part of the early Suede camp - and within a month Annie Holland (bass) is recruited. Through advertisement in the British music press the band recruit a fourth member, Donna Matthews (guitar/vocals) in September 1992, who completes the (original) line-up. Under the name Vaseline, the band rehearse and are offered three days demo time at the EMI studio in Rathbone Place. 1993 sees the band returning to the EMI studio to do more demos, and in August the band sign a publishing deal with Deceptive Records. On November 1, the band, now called Elastica, release their first UK single, the two-minute punk rocker Stutter on limited edition 7" vinyl. Due to heavy radio airplay, Stutter quickly sells out and Elastica join Pulp on tour for five days.

In January 1994, Elastica’s future looks promising as they are voted "Best New Band" by the readers of both the NME and the Melody Maker. Within that very same year, the group release two more singles, Line Up (in January) and the more or less techno-based Connection (in October) - the latter entering the charts at number 17. Although the band remain fairly quiet throughout 1994, Elastica receive much attention from the British press. This is not due to the fact that they are signed by Geffen in May - instead, the press makes (too much of) a big deal out of Frischmann’s romantic relationship with Damon Albarn out of Blur. The band’s fourth single, Waking Up is released in both the UK and mainland Europe in early 1995. Elastica then run into problems as publishers of both Wire and the Stranglers take the band to court, claiming that the quartet have appropriated melodies/stolen riffs from the two said bands. Just before Elastica release their brilliant self-titled debut album, both cases are settled out of court. The debut becomes a huge success, entering the charts at the number one spot - and is the fastest selling debut ever in the UK. Elastica are also doing very well in the States.

In the summer of 1995, Holland departs with the band and is briefly replaced by L.A. bassist Abby Travis. Abby, however, is soon replaced by Sheila Chipperfield who also leaves. A year later, the band add to the line-up keyboardist Dave Bush who plays with the band during their live performances at V96 in Chelmsford (and what a great show that was!) and Leeds. Bush remains part of today’s Elasica. Following heavy touring and loads of MTV exposure, the future of Elastica is questioned by many. Matthews exits from the band in the spring of 1999 (due to a nervous breakdown) and, furthermore, Elastica’s follow-up album is years in the making, thus triggering off considerable speculation amongst fans as well as the media.

Nevertheless, Holland rejoins the band after Matthews' departure and also, recruited are two new members, Sharon Mew (keyboards/vocals) and Paul Jones (guitar). Though part of Elastica’s line-up, both Mew and Jones are members of other bands too - Heave and Linoleum, respectively. In 1999, Elastica (finally) release some new material as they put out their 6 Track EP. The EP features The Fall’s Mark E. Smith as guest vocalist and several demos for the forthcoming album. The band's second full-lenght album, The Menace, is out in April 2000. As a whole, The Menace is messier and more shouty than the band's debut album; it's full of cool and mad keyboard sounds! Also included is a cover version of Trio's 80's hit Da Da Da. The first single taken from the album is Mad Dog.