Breakbeat trainspotters and reflexive sample merchants John Ross and Rob Fitzpatrick formed Ronnie & Clyde. After about a year of recording, the duo began putting in over-time with their sampler and dealt the results to Swim Recordings. Though the label was more noted for post-acid theorists than rude-boy inheritors, label-head Colin Newman liked what he heard and issued Ronnie & Clyde's first single "The Last Hand" in 1996. After appearing on the Leaf compilation Invisible Soundtracks, Ross and Fitzpatrick released another single in 1997, then their debut album In Glorious Black and Blue.