Sidewinder were founded in 1990 in Canberra by Pip Branson on guitar, Martin Craft on bass guitar and backing vocals, his brother Nick Craft on lead guitar and vocals, and Giri Fox on drums. Most of the members were still in secondary school. They played their first live shows in 1991 and in the following year they signed to Half a Cow – a label owned by ex-Canberran musician Nic Dalton (Lemonheads, Plunderers) – which was later purchased by Universal Music. By that time Jeremy David had joined on viola. One of the group's early gigs was at a circus in July 1992.