During 2003 McDougall organised "Rock Against Howard", a compilation album, by various Australian musicians as a protest against incumbent Prime Minister, John Howard's government. It was released in August 2004, before the October federal election, when Howard's coalition was re-elected. Also that year, McDougall and Whalley formed a side-project, Self Righteous Brothers, as an alternative rock group and issued the album, "Love Songs for the Wrong at Heart" on Shock Records. A track, "There's No Town Like Snowtown" referenced the Snowtown murders and was labelled "insensitive" by the Adelaide Tourism Commission after being played on radio. For the album, McDougall provided lead vocals, acoustic and electric guitars, banjo, piano, violin, viola, cello, pan flute, glockenspiel, zither, timbales, and cymbals.