Glenn Richards, Adam Donovan and David Williams grew up and attended school in Shepparton, Victoria. Richards began writing songs while studying English at university in 1996. He invited Donovan and Williams, who had been studying music at the Northern Melbourne Institute of TAFE, to join him; they in turn asked classmate Edmondo Ammendola to join in. The band took their name from the 1954 novel "The Adventures of Augie March" by Saul Bellow, citing its poetic, complex prose as a reflection of Richards' vocals.