selfmindead formed in the winter of 1994-1995 in eskilstuna, sweden as a four-piece. marko hautakoski on drums, timo sillankorva on guitar, vocalist ilkka viitasalo and bassist tapani hoikkaniemi. mostly influenced by the swedish hardcore scene, bands such as refused, abhinanda, and mindjive. in 1995 the band entered a competition in their hometown of eskilstuna, known as cult-95. after winning this competition they began to play more shows around sweden. in 1996, selfmindead came into contact with a newly formed record label known as soulscape records. they signed with soulscape and released one 7", featuring two original songs and a cover of starflyer 59's song, "hazel would". in the early summer of 1997 they entered the studio to record a self titled, full-length record. the album was released in scandinavia by soulscape, who had released their previous 7". it was distributed in england and benelux by sally forth records and in the us by solid state records. the group toured europe behind this release.