Formed in 1963 in Heretaunga in the Hutt Valley, north of Wellington by writer and guitarist Wayne Mason as Southern Auroras, and then Sine Waves and Insect before finally becoming Fourmyula in 1967, with the lineup that made most of their records.

Winning the national Battle of The Bands, they were signed to His Master's Voice (NZ) Ltd later that year by Howard Gable and over the next three years had a string of hits that made them one of the most successful New Zealand bands of their time.

Moving to London in 1969 they developed a live sound that was substantially harder and heavier than their psychedelic pop of earlier years.

Their 1969 single Nature, composed by Mason, was their biggest hit in NZ, won the Loxene Golden Disc (the equivalent of the Record of the Year) in 1970, and in 2003 was named the Supreme New Zealand Composition of the previous 75 years at their celebration of that anniversary.

They split in 1971 but reformed in 2010 with the re-release of their catalogue in a boxed set.

Chris Parry stayed in the UK and, as A&R manager at Polydor discovered and signed The Jam, Siouxsie and the Banshees, and The Cure, who he also managed and released via his Fiction label.