Hailing from Rotorua, Gisborne and Feilding respectively, Luke Hale, Corinna Watts and Carl Watkins joined forces in the middle of the mighty Waikato to create Daisy Chain Halo in 2001. A trio of emotional intensity and driving energy, the band had a unique ability to create a bigger, richer sound than what would normally be expected of a simple line-up of vocals, acoustic guitar, bass and drums.
The seeds of what would later become Daisy Chain Halo were planted when Carl and Corinna met studying music at Whitireia Polytech in Porirua, Wellington in 1998. Later that year Corinna joined Carl, guitarist Adrian Win and drummer Ben Chapman in Porch, performing around Wellington and the middle North Island. Porch disbanded in 1999, with Carl and Corinna continuing to write and perform together as a duo until 2000 when they decided to relocate to Hamilton, naming themselves The Crimson Scene. Former Pushkin drummer BJ Hiha moved from Wellington to join them for a time, as did former Porch drummer Ben, who occupied the drum stool for The Crimson Scene and later DCH several times between 2000 - 2002, including playing with the band in Australia.
In 2001 Daisy Chain Halo won The Waikato Band Experiments, Waikato Battle of the Bands, and the Waikato regional final of the NZ Battle of the Bands competitions, performing in the national final of the latter in Auckland.