Tim Mahon and Mark Bell migrated across the bridge during the punk heyday in 1978 to join the avant-punk-theatre act The Plague, whose major claim to fame came with their naked live performance (albeit covered in paint) at the 1979 Nambassa Rock Festival in front of 30,000 confused hippies.

Mark, Tim and Ian Gilroy were the "band" in the Plague and soon spun off as The Whizz Kids, releasing a single "Occupational Hazard" for Ripper in 1980. Fame called and Ian Gilroy left to join The Swingers in Melbourne, leaving Tim and Mark to find a drummer.

As luck would have it the guys stumbled (literally) across multi-talented musician Don McGlashan in late 1980 and played their first gig in October that year on a harbour cruise party. An invitation to record for Propeller followed shortly after and the first release was the track "Motivation" on that labels seminal "Class of 81" compilation of new bands in March 1981.

The first Propeller Blams record was the four track ep, called simply "Blam Blam Blam" a month later which, to the suprise of many, charted almost immediately and sat in the top forty for several months. In July 1981, The Blams released their, soon to be, unofficial national anthem, "There is No Depression in New Zealand" which appeared at the same time that New Zealand was rocked by the nationwide anti-Springbok tour protests and riots. The song became the theme of the protests and was sung up and down the country, turning gold a month after release. The same month they were one third of the now legendary, Screaming Blamatic Roadshow. December saw the release of "Don't Fight it Marsha", Don McGlashan's drum machine anchored bittersweet love song-another massive hit.

In early 1982 Blam Blam Blam started recording their debut album, and for a short while were a four piece with vocalist Dick Driver joining then leaving. The album "Luxury Length" was finally released in July 1982, reaching number four. A month later, during the album tour, the band suffered a near tragic van crash with Tim Mahon almost dying and suffering permanent loss of smell. The crash effectively meant the end of the band, although they reformed briefly in 1984 to record the live "Blam Blam Blam Story".

In retrospect, Blam Blam Blam were one of the most important New Zealand bands of the early eighties, easily the most musically literate, hugely influential and one whose legacy goes far beyond their small number of releases.