initially exploding white mice were a covers band, then they began working on original tunes. in 1985 after adding david bunney on drums (zippy & the coneheads), they released a six-track extended play, "a nest of vipers", on australia's greasy pop records. it was produced by kim horne. also in 1985 their track, "down on the street" appeared on the label's compilation album, "an oasis in a desert of noise". in 1986 sydney rock publication, "ram", named "nest of vipers" as the best australian record of the year. the record was issued in the us on bigtime records, renamed as "in the nest of vipers", but despite selling several thousand copies, the group received no royalties as bigtime became insolvent soon after. during 1986 and 1987 the group regularly toured major australian cities and put out 7" singles. in march 1987 they issued the single, "blaze of glory" with a b-side being a cover of john kongos' hit, "he's gonna step on you again". in august 1988 they issued their debut lp, "brute force and ignorance", which had been recorded and engineered by kim horne at soundtrack studios. shortly before its release, barrow left and was replaced by dave mason, formerly of primevils. in 1989 jack jacomos replaced mason in turn.