Ross grew up in Erskineville, New South Wales. In 2000 on bass guitar and keyboards, he formed a hard rock group, Wolfmother, with Myles Heskett on drums and Andrew Stockdale on vocals and lead guitar. After "years of jamming in anonymity", the trio released a self-titled extended play in 2004. Aside from performing on the EP Ross also provided audio mixing and co-wrote the four tracks. The EP was a commercial success, reaching number thirty-five in the ARIA Singles Chart, and led to the band securing a record deal with Modular Recordings.