The Stems were part of the Australian garage-rock movement of the generation of the Lime Spiders and the Celibate Rifles. Their frontman was Dominic Mariani and their sound was a bit more melodic of the average. The singles She's A Monster (1985), Tears Me In Two (1985), Love Will Grow (1986) showed up on their first album, Great Rosebud Hoax (Citadel, 1987), while At First Sight, For Always, Sad Girl were the singles off At First Sight Violets Are Blue (White, 1987). Buds (Citadel, 1993) is an excellent anthology.

Dom Mariani later joined Darryl Mather of the Lime Spiders to forme the Someloves.

Mariani then founded DM3 with an Italian rhythm section. The power-trio debuted with a string of singles: Foolish (Citadel, 1993), 1 x 2 x Devastated (Screaming Apple, 1994), Making Time (Get Hip, 1994), Soultop (Citadel, 1995), Something Heavy (Citadel, 1995).

The album One Time Two Times Three Red Light (Running Circle, 1995) collects the first two singles and effervescent numbers such as Up In The Air, Like This, Far From Here.

Dig It The Most (Bomp, 1997) is a vastly inferior effort.

The singles Lure, Everything That You Told Me and Dial 04 Josephine are the standout tracks on Rippled Soul (Munster, 1998), that also displays the soul-rock vibrations of Everything That You Told Me.

Their career ended with the single Just Like Nancy (Hellfire Club, 1999).