Previous members had included Ian Simpson or Jenny Shimmin (banjo), Murray Cook (piano), Jim Niven (piano accordion), Wayne de Lisle on drums, Reg Mombassa on guitar (both of Mental as Anything),[2] Mark Dawson (drums).

David Patterson replaced Rose Pearse on bass guitar and Adrien Warren (USA) on drums.

While still a member of the Happening Thang, Travers guested on drums on Neil Murray's debut album, Calm and Crystal Clear (April 1989).

[1][4][5] Kathryn Whitfield of The Canberra Times, in March 1989, had felt that "I Don't Wanna Go to Work" was "repetitive garble.

Twanging, monotonous tripe, which even the most ardent of country and western (or both) fans would find hard to bear.

[7] For that album the line-up of the group was Mercer, Patterson, Travers and Wearne, which was augmented by additional musicians: Pearse on vocals and bass guitar, Kathy Bluff on fiddle, Murray Cook on piano, Jim Niven on piano accordion, Dave Faulkner on piano, Peter O'Doherty on backing vocals, Ian Simpson on pedal steel guitar, Robert Souter on drums, and Bruce Thorburn on fiddle.

[9] They appeared on the 1990 compilation album Breaking Ground - New Directions in Country Music which was nominated for the same award in 1991.

[9] The Happening Thang's second album, Saddlepop (1990), provided a single: their cover version of Neil Young's "The Losing End".

[14] In 2014, founding members, Travers and Wearne co-founded The Western Distributors, a country/pop band, with Guy Donnellan and released a 13-track self titled album in March 2018.