As the title states so bluntly, two of us had moved to Brooklyn while one had stayed in Western Massachusetts. This didn’t seem to cause as much trouble as I thought it would, but it’s hard not to imagine a brighter, alternate history where we actually lived in the same place while attempting the impossible feat of a long-term creative and business partnership.

In the two years since our final homemade EP, we’d somehow found a great manager who believed in us, signed to a real label that appeared to feel the same, and had the cash to record at a very real studio.

The leveling up from recording and mixing everything ourselves in a moldy basement to working with Peter Katis at his studio was mind boggling. Peter was riding high off albums by the National and Interpol, and he spent more money buying vintage compressors off eBay while we were there than we paid him for the sessions. He is a true gear obsessive and total sweetheart.

It’s hard to overstate how important Pitchfork was to the music business at the time. Napster and its ilk were decimating CD sales and labels were scared shitless. Pitchfork seemed to be the only thing left that moved the needle, so when our EP managed an 8.0, we were inundated with attention overnight. 

A&R people who had previously blown us off streamed into our shows. Our Myspace (lol) was flooded with new fans. And within days, we’d been signed by a Big Booking Agent who quickly sent us out on our first national headlining tour. While it was initially thrilling that our modest rider was fulfilled by the rock clubs of Atlanta, Minneapolis and San Francisco, attendance was mostly underwhelming. This was understandable given that we had no national presence yet and really shouldn’t have been headlining in the first place. At the end of the tour, Big Agent didn’t exactly drop us: he simply never replied to another call or email ever again. Our first Industry Ghosting! The business of music forever eats its young. (Ben)