Smudge signed with Half a Cow to issue four studio albums, Manilow (1994), Hot Smoke and Sassafras (1994), You Me Carpark .
[1][2] Galloway and Morgan were also bandmates in Godstar alongside Nic Dalton, who was the co-owner of the record label, Half a Cow.
[5] Smudge had formed after Galloway and Morgan were asked by Dalton to contribute a song, "Tea, Toast and Turmoil", to the 1991 Half a Cow 7-inch four-track split extended play, Slice (with one track each from Swirl, Jupiter and Studley Lush).
[5] An Oz Music Project reporter described Smudge's track as "a short, melodic pop song with colourful lyrics which set the blueprint for the future output of [the band].
[1] According to Australian musicologist, Ian McFarlane, the two EPs demonstrated "rough-hewn yet sprightly power pop wrapped around witty lyrics, squalling, fuzzy guitars, urgent melodies and grungy production.
"[1] They followed with a third EP, Superhero, in May 1993, which included covers of the Laverne & Shirley theme "Making Our Dreams Come True" and John Waite's "Missing You".
[1] Steve Bell of theMusic.com.au observed that they had "by this time released a string of catchy, infectious EPs ... so from the outset there was a lot more going on in the Smudge world than mere association or nepotism.
[10] In March of that year the band released its debut album, Manilow, produced by Dalton, on Half a Cow Records.
[11][12] The first single from the album, "Impractical Joke" (November 1993), was released in three different countries, each with different B-sides culled from a number of home-made four-track recordings conducted independently by each of the band members.
"[9] In October 1996 they released their second album, You, Me, Carpark...Now!,[13] which was recorded at Idful Music Corporation in Chicago, with producer Casey Rice (Liz Phair, Dirty Three) and number of additional studio musicians, including John McEntire (Tortoise).