Primordial soup: Andy Warren and Bid went to school together, Lester Square and Adam Ant both attended Hornsey School of Art. The latter two formed a band called "The B-Sides", which Andy joined sometime in 1976. Bid also joined a couple of months later, and Adam left shortly after. Lester, Andy and Bid occasionally continued to write and rehearse together (it was around this time that some of the songs later to be used by The Monochrome Set were written, e.g., Goodbye Joe, He's Frank, Puerto-Rican Fence Climber, Lester Leaps In), until Adam formed The Ants with Lester and Andy. Whilst Andy continued on with Adam to record the first Ants album, Lester left The Ants in 1977, to form, firstly The Zarbies & The Ectomorphs with Bid and Jeremy Harrington, and then The Monochrome Set with Bid (Jeremy joined later).
To quote the Asahi Evening News, 1993: "When B-Sides singer Adam Ant quit the band for an ill-fated solo career, The Monochrome Set was born."
The Monochrome Set reformed in April 2010, with Bid, Lester Square, Andy Warren, and Jennifer Denitto (drums, also of Scarlet's Well).A short tour of Japan was booked for October. There was no decision how to proceed beyond that, as Bid's other band, Scarlet's Well, had recently released an album and had dates already booked for that autumn.
Rehearsals went well, but at the end of July, Bid suffered an SAH, and as a result all the gigs booked for both bands had to be cancelled. Remarkably, Bid emerged relatively unscathed, but decided to fold Scarlets Well, as he was not able to continue with two bands.
Bid's experience with his SAH and recovery went onto inspire The Monochrome Set's 2012 album, "Platinum Coils".