In 1999, Canvas played the South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas and became so enamored with the city that they decided to move there. They added established Austin musicians Julian Mandrake (formerly of Oynxx and Brother Love) on lead guitar and Scott Thomas (formerly of Dexter Freebish) on drums. Brad Byram (formerly of Ugly Tribe and Zen Merchants) soon replaced Geoff Piper on bass, rounding out the band with King on vocals and Rada on rhythm guitar. Immediately after recruiting the new members, the band began work on their first full-length album "Invocation," which they recorded and produced in their garage. While in California, the band had a light rock sound which drew comparisons to Matchbox Twenty, Live and Counting Crows. When the band moved to Texas, they quickly made friends with bands such as Johnny Goudie, Spoonfed Tribe and Blue October and found a new harder-edged sound influenced by their musical peers.