The Australian band Killing Heidi became an almost-instant smash hit in their home country when they came onto the scene, but their young age and inexperience eventually led to internal problems. Like true musicians, however, the members persevered to show that they weren't just a flash in a pan. At the group's core was Ella and Jesse Hooper, a brother and sister from the Violet Town, a city with a population around 2,000. Their influence of modern music was limited as youngsters because of their residence and instead they listened to artists from Bob Dylan to Joni Mitchell. A new network in the area started exposing the young talents to new music like Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins and Hole.

By the time the two were barely in their teens, they played at a local arts festival. The songs written by Ella drew the attention of a studio owner, who led them record for free. They entered a competition with the single "Kettle," which landed them a producer and manager, Paul Kosky. Kosky started working hard to develop the young sounds of Killing Heidi. The lineup was completed with drummer Adam Pedretti and bassist Warren Jenkins. They released their initial single, "Wier," which was a tale about high school that soon started climbing the Australian charts in 1999. It was followed by another single, "Mascara," as well as their debut album, Reflector.

The album went five times platinum in Australia after debuting at number one. Riding high the waves of success, Killing Heidi were pressed to release a follow up. Ella, however, had a cyst on her vocal chords that needed to be removed, but Kosky pushed for a sophomore release soon after her recovery. The resulting album, Present, was a commercial flop. After parting ways with Kosky, the band took some time to release their third, self-titled album. After the release, the band decided to take an indefinite hiatus.