Idlewild started out at a flat party in Edinburgh in 1995 where founding band members met and found common ground in musical tastes. The starting line up was Roddy Woomble, Rod Jones, Colin Newton and Phil Scanlon. Scanlon was soon replaced by Bob Fairfoull. Appearing in 1996 as an angry band of Scottish punks with Woomble of Carnoustie leading the band, Idlewild eventually achieved commercial recognition by refining their taste for large-scale guitar rock, and combining it with an apparently unknown gift for melody and tenderness.