Jim was high aloft in a Beijing apartment, writing electronic melodies because the walls were too paper thin for non-electronic instruments; Matt was in his basement in Indiana, crafting songs, amassing recording equipment from the savings of a graphic design job long departed. They traded songs back and forth, as they had done since junior high. An ex-Sub Pop, ex-patriot in Beijing befriended Jim, heard the bedroom tunes and signed what could be to the starting line-up of his international label. Jim said goodbye to his Chinese third graders and reunited with Matt in March of 2006.
Matt and Jim slaved away for many months recording and writing music for an album. They needed a change of scenery and moved to Bloomington, a band-friendly town where the rent is cheap, and the basements are just asking to be filled with amps. Maggie was their summertime sublet roommate. She started playing keyboards, was admitted into law-school the Friday before classes started, and then, somehow, she continued playing keyboards in the band (using some kind of secret Pentecostal time-miracle her preacher father must of taught her). Matt, Maggie, and Jim received a tip from a red-haired, octagonal-rim spectacled Secretly Canadian accountant that a new warehouse intern was in town who played the drums. Dave hit/fit perfectly, a real candy fueled whiz-kid (the band keeps a bowl of sweets next to his drum throne). He played in three other projects--luckily, he had the time to do one more.
I hope I can see ya'll play tonight. I bought my tickets through Ticketmaster.com and they still haven't arrived in my mailbox yet. Hopefully they come today. ROCK AND ROLL.
