After finishing year 12 they moved to Melbourne in 1996,[4] Bitmead recalled "I had to start life in a new town, looking to play in bands whilst holding down a boring job.
[3] The band started recording demos and supported shows by Dallas Crane, Magic Dirt, Rocket Science and You Am I.
[3][7] Rocket Science's lead guitarist Roman Tucker had passed on their demos to Ivy League's Pete Lusty in October.
[3][4] Early in 2002 the trio signed with talent management company Winterman & Goldstein, owned by Lusty and Andy Cassell (also co-owners of Ivy League).
[3] A demo tape was also sent to Steve McDonald of United States group Redd Kross who offered to produce a record for them in Los Angeles.
Former Blur guitarist Graham Coxon had also heard their demo tape and released their extended play, A Man, on his Transcopic Records in April 2004.
[3] They followed with another EP, Hit Me Again in August, which Johnny Loftus of AllMusic rated at three-out-of-five, describing how their "spry, sugary harmonies lock into guitars that rev like muscle cars racing over California viaducts" while "drums are pretty loud throughout" which prevent this work from becoming "contemporary power pop".
[14] Gareth Bowles of Hybrid Magazine was disappointed by Neon, "[it] has some appealing tunes, but they tend to be subsumed by the trite lyrics and over-eagerness of the players".