They met as teenagers in Springvale, a working-class outer suburb of Melbourne, and moved together in 1977 to St Kilda, then the centre of the punk rock scene. The band in its initial form was Denise Rosenberg, Dave Light, Frank Lovece and Stuart Grant. Despite socialising with the likes of Nick Cave from The Boys Next Door they remained outsiders to this scene (most of which consisted of people from middle-class backgrounds with private-school educations), and in 1978 moved to Fitzroy.