Lessie Does came into existence in November 1996 after the break up of The Dented Fences (Matt and Andrew's previous band) and The Fallen Thumbs (Nick's previous band). Both of these bands were high school efforts at Immanuel College which all of the boys attended. Getting together for the first time proved to be very awkward and the ice was broken with the playing of Molly's Lips, a 2 chord Nirvana song. You can't exactly go wrong starting with a tune like this. Everyone seemed to get along with each other well and that afternoon it was decided that the band would be formed. Practising many covers from Stone Temple Pilots to Pearl Jam and NOFX the sound of the newly formed band began to take its shape. With the arrival of the first gig came the problem of deciding on a name for the band. Andrew had only just bought a new amp, and not having time to dwell on the matter, the lads came up with Lessie Does, from the model of the amp.

     The first gig went as well as it could and consisted of cover songs and the only original the band had at the time - Nemesis. Although the party go-ers did not really get into the music, the next band on and the friends of Lessie Does thought it was good. With this feeling of appreciation Lessie Does stuck at it and further developed. Before long a few more original songs had been added to the set.

     The first demo was recorded in April 97 and included 5 songs. About 80 tapes were cut and given to pubs and sold to friends for $6. Gigs slowly kept coming up and having played a few parties and other events the NAD battle of the bands (nation wide Uni band comp) was entered. Playing poorly resulted in the band finishing second to last and feeling pretty down. Nevertheless, they persevered and after finding an entry form wedged under the window wiper of Jeremy's car Lessie Does entered the Mitcham City Council battle of the bands. This time they played well and took out first prize being a days worth of free recording at John Reynolds Studios under producer/engineer Nick Love.

     Having to ride out the rest of 97 in wait for Nick to finish his final year at school, they entered the studio in early 1998 and on May 2nd their debut EP was released. Titled Ride the Yellow Yota, after Jeremy's car, it received excellent reviews around Adelaide and was launched in front of a capacity crowd at the Seven Stars Hotel.