The Catherine Wheel formed in 1990, comprised of singer/guitarist Rob Dickinson, guitarist Brian Futter, bassist Dave Hawes, and drummer Neil Sims. They took their moniker from the firework known as the Catherine wheel named from the medeival torture device. The band was often included in the "shoegaze" scene, characterized by bands that made extensive use of guitar feedback and droning washes of noise. Catherine Wheel's further albums shed the original shoegazing tag by making skillful use of atmospherics, metallic hard rock, keyboards, harmonica and acoustic guitars. Storm Thorgerson and his design team Hipgnosis did many of the band's album and single cover artwork.