The formation of Gang of Four came when Gill and King were curious by their surroundings at Leeds. Gill reflected, "The idea of Gang of Four was something that Jon and I created between ourselves. Between the two of us. The music side was left to me, but the concept of it was something we did together." Using punk to encourage their sound; sex and politics as a base for their lyrics, Gang of Four began in the most collegiate way. Gill mentioned, "We were art students, so, you could basically do whatever the f*ck you wanted, when you f*cking wanted. We would sit around playing chess, drink a bottle of gin, and I would have the guitar and start playing and make up things there and then." While they pondered their concept and idea to possibly have a band, they came to New York in 1976 and stayed with a young music writer, Mary Harron (who would later go on to direct American Psycho and I Shot Andy Warhol) and she introduced the young men to the New York music scene and CBGB's, "New York is not your typical America, it is very different," Gill reflected on the Big Apple. After meeting and seeing artists like Television, Patti Smith, things became clear. Gill said, "We went to New York, we met all of these people and it was like, 'So, why wouldn't you have a band?' It was the obvious thing to do."