Grinderman came to be when Nick Cave was writing material in 2005 for Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds' album Abattoir Blues/The Lyre of Orpheus. Teaming up with band members Martyn Casey (bass), Warren Ellis (violin, guitar) and Jim Sclavunos (drums), the group went into a London studio in 2006 and began a marathon session of writing material aiming to recreate the more raw, primal sound like that of Cave's celebrated post-punk project The Birthday Party. The following April, they took the cream of these new songs and recorded an album with producer Nick Launay.

Released in March 2007, their self-titled debut album was universally acclaimed by critics and features the singles "No Pussy Blues" and "Get It On."