Intercooler was formed in 2001 when Damon Cox paired up with already established songwriting trio Phil Ballantyne, Joel Potter and Michael Caso (later replaced by Darek Mudge of Screamfeeder).

After completing their first album, Intercooler toured up and down the east coast of their home country of Australia, playing shows with the likes of The Casanovas, Dallas Crane, Peabody, Grinspoon, The Living End and claiming prime international support slots with Teenage Fanclub, Buzzcocks, J Mascis, Gomez, Maxïmo Park, Preston School of Industry and The Delgados.

Intercooler was responsible for knocking Jennifer Lopez off the pole position on Fly TV's buzz clip of the week, as voted by viewers.

They supported Red Hot Chili Peppers and Queens of the Stone Age at their Washington, D.C. show plus appeared at Wisconsin's renowned Summerjam festival.

2004 saw the release of the EP Dance of a Thousand Promises which spent 41 weeks in the top 20 of the Australian Independent Charts and had two songs added to high rotation nationally.