Billy Mahonie formed in in London near the end of 1997 to play instrumental rock music. The original line-up was Gavin Baker (guitar), Howard Monk (drums), Hywell Dinsdale (bass and guitar) and Kevin Penney (bass). Their first release was a split-single on Fierce Panda with Rothko, followed by a single on Livid Meercat (a Fierce Panda offshoot). Their debut album The Big Dig was released by Too Pure in 1999. Despite good reviews for The Big Dig, Too Pure dropped them halfway through recording the follow-up album, but they were picked up by Southern Records and released What Becomes Before in 2001. A third album Dust was released in 2003 on Tritone Records, with a new line-up of Baker, Monk, Duncan Brown (bass) and Tony Barrett (guitar). In 2005 Oof records released Found, a collection of rarities including their early singles and split-single tracks. Exhale on Mare Street (Unlabel, 2007) was a collection of demos and out-takes. Finally a new album BM by BM was released by Static Caravan in January 2010. From 2005-2009 the band was just Baker and Monk in the studio, with Penney and Dinsdale rejoining only for occasional live shows; however as of October 2010, according to Gavin Baker, "The original lineup have since reformed, in a manner of speaking, and are working on a new album." Read more on Last.fm.