Facts: - years active: 1998 & ndash ; present - past members: michael nichols - caption: panel launch , 2004 of judges at '' open casket '' ep - origin: melbourne , victoria , australia - label: chapter music - genre: indie rock - name: panel of judges - background: group_or_band - image: panellaunch1.jpg Based on these bullet points, write a short biography describing the life of panel of judges .
panel of judges is an indie rock band from melbourne , australia .dion nania began the group in 1997 as a solo project , then added alison bolger , michael nichols and paul williams soon afterwards .nania , originally from geelong , had played with the golden lifestyle band ; bolger , originally from brisbane , had played bass in clag and sleepy township and in looser configurations such as an improvisational group with mia schoen and ellen turner ; williams had been a member of perth group molasses and , in the early days of panel of judges was also drumming in melbourne band jaguar is jaguar ; and nichols had been a formative figure in the hanshalf trio in melbourne , crabstick and blairmailer in sydney , and the ' travelling ' group ruff buff .panel of judges ' first release was an ep , '' blind as a bat '' on chapter music in 1998 ; their debut album '' cool fool '' was released later that year after which nichols left and the band continued as a three-piece .they travelled to europe in 2002 , playing in london and paris , and returned in 2004 to record their second album '' no scandal - no future - in heaven '' , the title of which was ' stolen from a card left on serge gainsbourg 's grave ' .they have since toured japan and new zealand ; their third album , '' bad vibrations '' was released on mistletone records in late 2008 .