Life for Strawpeople began at 95bFM. Paul Casserly and Mark Tierney met there in 1985 when both had foregone the golden path to academia for the small and damp corridors of student radio. Tierney was the studio engineer at the time, Casserly an aspiring DJ.
Various 'experimental' recordings followed - a cut up of a cassette Casserly had stolen from his mother, The Pope's In Ireland, resulted in Something Else Is Needed. "She took it back when she’d heard what we’d done", remembers Casserly.
No New Messages debuted in the Official New Zealand Top 40 Albums on 23 April 2000. It has been in the Top 40 Albums for seven weeks with a highest position of #10. There are five albums by Strawpeople in the Top 40 Albums.