Eskimo Joe founders MacLeod and Temperley were school mates at John Curtin Senior High School. Temperley left school at sixteen to concentrate on writing music, moving into a share house with Simon Leach, who played bass guitar in a funk band called Carpet. The other members were his brother Stuart on drums and guitarist Joel Quartermain—all three were former students at Hollywood Senior High School. When Temperley joined Carpet they changed the name to Freud's Pillow. The band performed around Perth and Fremantle from 1995 to 1998, and released an EP "Pleasure Puppy" in 1997; MacLeod, although not a member, is credited with co-writing "Mr Hoek" on the EP. Despite their modest popularity, Quartermain and Temperley were unhappy with the band's musical style. While recording the EP, Temperley started jamming for a side project with MacLeod, writing several short and simple pop–punk songs. They auditioned a number of drummers and eventually settled on Quartermain, who they believed was more musical.