It featured a number of notable Australian musicians including Sean Kelly (Models, The Dukes), Andrew Duffield, James Valentine (both also ex-Models), Garry Gary Beers (INXS), Geoffrey Stapleton (GANGgajang) and Wendy Matthews.
Sean Kelly and His Absent Friends kicked off life as a touring act in May 1989, with Kelly (vocals/guitar) joined on occasion by his partner Wendy Matthews (vocals)[3](who performed backing vocals for Models and was a guest vocalist on the Rockmelons debut and ARIA award winning album, Tales of the City), Garry Gary Beers (the bassist for INXS),[4] Nicole Ainslie (keyboards/vocals), Andrew Duffield (keyboards) ex-Models, James Valentine (saxophone) ex-Models, Danglin' Brothers guitarist Michael King ex-Jimmy Barnes, and drummer John Mackay ex-Machinations.
[2][5] Later in 1990, Absent Friends supported INXS on an eight-week European tour, with ex-Eurogliders bassist Ron Francois taking Beers' place and GANGgajang keyboardist Geoff Stapleton filling the void on keyboards left by the departure of Duffield.
[2][5] The band played 10,000 seat stadiums through Sweden, Switzerland, Italy, France, Spain, the Netherlands, Denmark, Scotland, Ireland and England (including five performances at Wembley Arena).
Matthews soon after recorded her debut album, Émigré,[9] whilst Kelly and Stapleton pieced together another band during 1991 called The Dukes.