Later the band would start to play in Sydney more regularly and would take on Steve Pavlovic as their manager and sign with Waterfront Records and release two influential 7" singles.

Proton Energy Pills also played with P.I.L., The Buzzcocks, Rollins Band and The Hoodoo Gurus and supported many of their local heroes including The Celibate Rifles, The Hitmen, Hard-ons and Lime Spiders.

The Protons disbanded in mid-1990 citing musical differences after the recording of a five-track 12" EP at Sydney's Electric Avenue Studios with Phil Punch and Kent Steedman from the Celibate Rifles producing.

[1][3] Despite their limited output, the significance of the band would come to light in hindsight and they came to be considered a pre-grunge seminal act that paved the way for an 'unearthing' of underground rock in Australia in the 1990s.

Produced by J Mascis (the singer/guitarist for proto grunge group Dinosaur Jr) and featuring Bill Gibson (the one time backing vocalist for the Lime Spiders and The Eastern Dark), “Less Than I Spend” by The Proton Energy Pills is a terrific track.

Arguably the last great 7” in a lineage of Australian rock’n’roll that had dated right back to Radio Birdman and their landmark November 1976 release Burn My Eye.