Complex sentence: Francine was founded by Clayton Scoble, former studio and live performer with Aimee Mann, and formerly of Poundcake, toward the end of 1997, after self-releasing a few solo demo tapes.
Split into simpler sentences: Francine was founded by Clayton Scoble, who previously performed with Aimee Mann, and was a member of Poundcake. He assembled the group toward the end of 1997 and soon after self-released a few solo demo tapes.