THE MASTERS APPRENTICES is an Australian band, citing 1965 as their formative year. Their history started the year before though, with the formation of The Mustangs. Featuring Mick Bower (guitar), Rick Morrison (guitar), Brian Vaughton (drums) and Gavin Webb (bass), they made a name for themselves playing cover tunes by acts such as The Shadows and The Ventures. When The Beatles toured Australia in 1964 that style of music went out of fashion though, and after adding vocalist Jim Keays to their ranks, the band started rehearsing their own material.

Come 1965 and The Mustangs started establishing themselves as a popular live act, now pursuing a distinct beat influenced style of music. By the end of 1965 they had built themselves quite a following in their local base of Adelaide. They renamed themselves as The Masters Apprentices late in the year - the name a homage to the masters of the blues apparently - and the arguable highlight of the year for the band was a TV appearance on the Good Friday show as well as landing the third place in the band contest Hoadley's Battle of the Sounds.

In 1966 it was time to record a demo tape, and later in the year two tracks from the demo were issued as a single, sporting the tune Undecided and the A side. The single was given lots of attention in their local Adelaide scene, and towards the end of the year in Melbourne too - with one impressed DJ stating The Masters are to Australia what the Rolling Stones are to England, and The Doors are to America.

A second single, Buried and Dead, was issued towards the end of the year, and the band also recorded several other tunes at that time, which would eventually end up on their debut album. Early in 1967 the attention they got from the Melbourne scene made the band realize that it would be a good move relocating there. Vaughton decided that he would stay behind in Adelaide though, and was replaced by Steve Hopgood (drums) following the move.

The Undecided single sold well in Melbourne, eventually peaking at #9 in the local charts, and the band got themselves further attention with their second single Buried and Dead, for which they also made a promotional film - one of the first rock videos ever made in Australia. This lead to the band being picked up by Astor Records, who issued their self-titled debut album.