Founded in Klagenfurt, Austria during 1991, Naked Lunch took its name directly from the William S. Burroughs novel and began with vocalist/guitarist Oliver Welter, bassist Georg Timber-Trattnig, and drummer Peter Hornbogner; Welter has served as the sole continuous member across every subsequent lineup. The group launched as an alternative rock act, issuing an EP and a debut album on the German Big Store imprint before bassist Timber-Trattnig exited in 1993, an event followed by his death in 2000. Herwig Zamernik stepped in on bass, after which the band moved to Mercury and delivered its second album, Superstardom, in 1997. Aligning with the Weilheim, Germany scene that also produced the Notwist, Naked Lunch expanded to a quartet by adding keyboardist and synthesizer player Stefan Deisenberger and released Love Junkies in 1999.
Following a period of inactivity that nearly ended the band, Naked Lunch returned to the studio with a heavier emphasis on electronics for its fourth album, Songs for the Exhausted, after drummer Hornbogner left and was succeeded by Thorsten Thonhauser. Motor City Records issued Songs for the Exhausted in 2004 to positive notices, prompting the group to follow with the Stay EP in 2005. After Thonhauser departed, the band recorded This Atom Heart of Ours in 2007 with new drummer Alex Jezdinsky. Two years later Universalove appeared on Louisville Records, then Amerika surfaced on Monkey in 2011 and All Is Fever on Tapete in 2013.
