Gridlock began as an expression of Mike Wells' desire to stray from his experience in the San Francisco thrash metal scene, and his interest in experimental music.
[3] During these early days, the band brought on a former bandmate, Bobby Cochran, for live percussion but his involvement ended after a short time.
[4] American labels had difficulty pinning down the bands dissonant, noise-based sound, making it difficult to secure a contract.
[2] Starting with 1998's Further, they took on more and more ambient and futuristic electronic sounds and slowly lessened their industrial edge whilst removing any trace of vocals; Wells described this period as "the happiest memories" he had with the band.
[1] In 2000, the band released a compilation of their early demos entitled 5.25 which included their cover of Berlin's "The Metro (song)" and additional live recordings.