Spiderbait is an Australian rock band who have had two top ten albums and another three albums reach the Australian top 40. Their song "Buy Me a Pony" was #1 on the Triple J Hottest 100 for 1996, and the group enjoyed success with their 2004 #1 Australian hit " Black Betty".
The three band members Mark Maher or "Kram" (drums and vocals), Damien Whitty or "Whitt" on guitar and Janet English on bass/vocals come from the small town Finley in southern New South Wales where they jammed together in their youth.
The band moved to Melbourne, Australia where Kram was studying at the Victorian College of the Arts School of Music. The band played its first gig at a loungeroom for a friend's party. The band soon became part of Melbourne's punk scene playing gigs at venues like the Tote Hotel in Collingwood, Victoria. They released their first single "Circle K" on Au-Go-Go Records with an EP titled P'tang Yang Kipper Bang Uh! following in 1992. The band's first album Shashavaglava was released in 1992. 'Shashavaglava' means 'dickhead' in Serbo-Croatian. This album featured the songs "Old Man Sam" and a cover of English comedians The Goodies' song "Run".
Spiderbait signed with Polydor Records and released their first album with the new label named The Unfinished Spanish Galleon of Finley Lake in 1995. The album reached the top forty of the Australian charts with singles "Monty" and "Sam Gribbles" receiving extensive airplay on Triple J. The album title refers to an unfinished project by the Finley Rotary Club, which became a venue for teenage drinking in their home town.
Their second album Ivy and the Big Apples was released in 1996 reaching the top ten and going double platinum in Australia. Their first single "Buy Me a Pony" received extensive airplay on Triple J resulting in listeners voting it as their favourite song of the year. The second single "Calypso" also achieved commercial airplay, and reached #13 in the Australian singles charts in 1997.