The Mavis's were formed as a four-piece post-punk, rock band in Ballarat in 1987 by Katherine McNulty on bass guitar; Becky Thomas (a.k.a.
[1][2] They released their debut single, a 7" double A-side of "Rollercoaster" and "Witch Hunt", in the following year on the Giggle label.
[1][2][5] In early 1993, they released their first extended play, Spindrift, via the Slipped Discs label and Mushroom Distribution Service (MDS).
[6][7] Cameron Adams of Beat Magazine described it in February 1993 as "Recorded live at The Empress – and sounding all the better for it – The Mavis's make pop which is edgy and ace fun.
[1][2][9] The six-track work was recorded by the line-up of Becky and Matt Thomas, Nick Gill, Keith Urquhart and Andrea Vendy; with Laurence Maddy producing.
"[11] X-Press Magazine's Lucy Morris felt that it "contains six refreshingly exciting, highly addictive, punchy pop songs which should at least earn them the tag of 'a band to look out for'.
[1][2] The Mavis's released their debut album, Venus Returning, in May 1996,[13] which was produced by Kalju Tonuma (Nick Barker).
[1][2] Australian musicologist, Ian McFarlane, described how it "highlighted the band's brash sound, which mixed the Thomas siblings' idiosyncratic, imperfect vocal blend, crashing guitars, sugar-frosted melodies, goofy keyboard embellishments and odd instrumentation (sitar, Tibetan bells and Indian banjo).
The band's next single, "Naughty Boy", was released in August 1997, which McFarlane felt was "raunchy" and an "aggressive rock" effort.
[citation needed] At the ARIA Music Awards of 1998 the Mavis's received four nominations: Best Pop Release for Pink Pills and Best Cover Art for Dominic O'Brien, Matt Thomas, Rachel Boyce and Alison Smith work, Single of the Year and Song of the Year for "Cry".
[16][17] At the 1999 awards ceremony, their single "Puberty Song" (November 1998) earned Tonuma a nomination for Engineer of the Year – together with his work on 28 Days' album Kid Indestructible and Felicity Hunter's "Hardcore Adore".
[9] In February 2000, they released the single, "Happiness",[9] which appeared on a television advertisement for Australian Hyundai Motor Company.
This was followed in May by another cover, this time of Jim Keays' "The Boy from the Stars", which was included in the soundtrack to the film, Sample People (2000).
From July to August 2001 the group provided a farewell tour of Australia and performed tracks from the album, before disbanding in December.
In February 2013 siblings, Beki and Matt re-united to perform some material by the Mavis's,[24] and to record a six-track EP, Searching for Zero (March 2013).
On 27 December 2014 the Mavis's reformed, with original members Beki, Matt and Nik joined by additional musicians, for a one-off show in Melbourne.
Becky returned from California, where she had been living in recent years, to take part, alongside a new lineup, consisting of guitarist Gabriel Atkinson (ex-Weta), bassist Rone Kaos (Fight the Sun) and drummer Alister Morley.