The guitar-based songs were heavily influenced by New Zealand's Flying Nun Records label, as well as US Indie rock performers R.E.M., Hüsker Dü, the Replacements, Dinosaur Jr, The Lemonheads, Buffalo Tom, and UK bands The Smiths, The Stone Roses and The Wonderstuff.
Inspired by the unexpected commercial success of their friends The Hummingbirds, Connolly and Messenger approached local promoter Steve Pavlovic, who booked the band's live debut, a mid-week gig at the Lansdowne Hotel in inner-city Chippendale in January 1990.
It garnered a small amount of airplay on local community radio stations such as Sydney's 2SER, Melbourne's 3RRR and 3PBS, and Brisbane's 4ZzZ, allowing the band to tour the East Coast of Australia.
Spare and recording their debut album, Gram, at Paradise Studios in Darlinghurst, Sydney, with US production team Sean Slade and Paul Q. Kolderie (Dinosaur Jr., Hole, Radiohead, Warren Zevon, Sebadoh).
Illusion" and "Can't Wait to Remind You" failed to chart significantly, and following many months of record company difficulties and band in-fighting, The Welcome Mat played their final show at the Annandale Hotel in Sydney in 1997.
Connolly has since played with Knievel, Mullens with 2 Litre Dolby and the Small Knives, and Messenger with Auto Circus Cop.