In 1998 friends from Thurston Community College, Greg McDonald, Nick Morley, Tom Weller and Ben Jennings formed a band, The Hip Down.
In late 1999, singer-songwriter Seymour Glass briefly joined on bass before leaving to front another local band, Miss Black America.
The band's name came from McDonald's term for his walk back to his village on a Monday morning as the sun came up, having spent the money needed for a taxi home in bars the previous night.
The band further gigged extensively across the country until July 2003, when Morley, Jennings and Wade decided to leave and focus on their own musical projects, such as the Brighton based ‘Enid Blitz’.
By August 2006 the band split and finally released their debut album in November 2006 on Repeat Records under their original name The Dawn Parade.