Janelle formed the group as a three-man project with Adam Smith (bass/vocals) and Matthew Heller (drums) after the dissolution of his high school blues band.

Walden, a retired manager of Otis Redding, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Outlaws, had set up an audition showcase for the band with the intent of giving them a few pointers about the music industry.

[7] When Janelle first started the band, the music pulled heavily from blues rock influences such as Jimi Hendrix, Cream, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and the John Mayer Trio, with several songs following the standard twelve-bar blues structure, like their original works "Mistaken for a Fool" and "So Cold".

As the band received regional attention and the need for original material grew, the music started to shift from blues rock to a more alternative feel.

The band has cited current influences like Incubus, Pearl Jam, Primus and Project Z as contributing to this musical shift.

When September Hase relocated to Nashville, Tennessee, they began to experiment with fusing different musical elements, adding a progressive and experimental edge to their sound, citing influences from bands like The Mars Volta, Tool, and Between the Buried and Me.