Not Drowning, Waving provide guitar. Their name is derived from Stevie Smith's poem "Not Waving but Drowning". Rowan McKinnon soon joined on bass guitar and they recorded "Moving Around" with a drum machine. Other atmospheric instrumentals were recorded at the LaTrobe University's music department's studio. "Moving Around" was released as their debut single in April 1984 on the Rampant Records label. While recording tracks for the debut album, "Another Pond", Bridie and Phillips joined McKinnon (also on guitar) in the ambient pop band, Easter, with Russel Bradley on drums and percussion, and Tim Cole on vocals. Cole became sound engineer and recording producer
Not Drowning, Waving and Montfort recorded the soundtrack for the film "Hammers Over the Anvil", they used Jen Anderson on violin (ex-The Black Sorrows) and the horn section from Hunters & Collectors. It was issued as "Hammers" under the name Not Drowning, Waving. The group disbanded in 1994, while Bridie and Mountfort continued with their offshoot venture, My Friend The Chocolate Cake. In November 2001, a short reunion of Not Drowning, Waving – consisting of Bradley, Bridie, Mountfort, Phillips and Southall in the line-up – occurred at the Corner Hotel in Richmond for the book launch of "Blunt: A Biased History of Australian