The band started out while Jae Laffer (then known by his actual first name, Justin) and Drew Wootton were still at high school in Kalamunda, an outer suburb of Perth, Western Australia. Laffer and Wootton met on their first day of school. 　　"You just look at someone and go, alright; you can be my friend, you have the same haircut as me". - Laffer 　　They added Drew's younger brother Myles on drums, Paul Otway on bass and Jules Douglas on slide guitar, keyboards and vocals soon after. After being spotted playing at the Inglewood Hotel by Happy Mondays' Gaz Whelan and Pete Carroll, following Happy Mondays' Perth performance at The Big Day Out in 2000, they were the first signing to the UK-based label LittleBIGMAN Records, a label set up by Carroll and Whelan.