For the first couple years, the band was a hobby -- we played in barbarous basement parties and recorded tapes for our friends on Tony's Tascam 4-Track -- but everything changed when Matt Hanks of Sunday Driver Records released three of our songs on a seven inch single.&nbsp; After the single was released, the band became more serious: we booked our first tours and promoted the 7" to college radio stations around the country. One spring day in 1994, the Gods smiled upon us -- <a href="http://www.msplinks.com/MDFodHRwOi8vd3d3Lm1pbnR5ZnJlc2guY29t" target="_blank">Minty Fresh Records</a> heard the song "Smash This World" on a Chicago radio station, and all of a sudden, music was no longer just a pastime. We signed that summer, and built an 8-track studio (affectionately called Hi-Tech City) in our house on Electric Avenue. We really wanted the record to have its own sonic identity, so for nearly 6 months the band holed up in the cramped basement space toiling over the 13 songs that would comprise the new record. <a href="http://www.msplinks.com/MDFodHRwOi8vd3d3LnBhcGFzZnJpdGFzLmNvbS9jb250ZW50L2Rpc2NvZ3JhcGh5Lmh0bWxscDE=">Papas Fritas</a> was finally released in October of 1995, and in the next months we rocked for audiences in <a href="http://www.msplinks.com/MDFodHRwOi8vd3d3LnBhcGFzZnJpdGFzLmNvbS9jb250ZW50L3RvdXJhcmNoaXZlcy5odG1s"> tours</a> of the US, Europe (with <a target="_blank" href="http://www.msplinks.com/MDFodHRwOi8vd3d3LmZsYW1pbmdsaXBzLmNvbQ==">The Flaming Lips</a>), and Japan.

In September of 1996, we regained control of our lives and focused on the next record. After relocating the studio to a rustic old school house in the woods of Gloucester, MA and dubbing it The Columnated Ruins, we worked the remainder of the year writing and recording music. The large, oddly-sized rooms, laid back atmosphere, and accessible farm animals of the Ruins perfectly complemented our desire to make a more organic and natural sounding record. Many of the songs were inspired by memorable events of the past year: "Rolling in the Sand" by a fight that broke out at a gig in Cape Cod while we were playing "TV Movies", our slowest song; "Live by the Water" by our move to Gloucester, the fish-stick capital of the world and home of "The Perfect Storm".

On April 22, Minty Fresh released <a href="http://www.msplinks.com/MDFodHRwOi8vd3d3LnBhcGFzZnJpdGFzLmNvbS9jb250ZW50L2Rpc2NvZ3JhcGh5Lmh0bWxscDI=">Helioself</a>, our second full-length, to the masses, and we toured so much for that record that we actually bent time and space and played as many as 3.56 shows at once in at least 7 dimensions.<a href="http://www.msplinks.com/MDFodHRwOi8vd3d3LnBhcGFzZnJpdGFzLmNvbS9jb250ZW50L2Jpby5odG1sdGhyZWU="></a>After <a href="http://www.msplinks.com/MDFodHRwOi8vd3d3LnBhcGFzZnJpdGFzLmNvbS9jb250ZW50L2Rpc2NvZ3JhcGh5Lmh0bWxscDI=">Helioself</a> was released, we played in the US with <a target="_blank" href="http://www.msplinks.com/MDFodHRwOi8vd3d3LmNhcmRpZ2Fucy5jb20=">The Cardigans</a>, <a target="_blank" href="http://www.msplinks.com/MDFodHRwOi8vd3d3LmJsdXIuY28udWs=">Blur</a>, <a target="_blank" href="http://www.myspace.com/hangupsmusic">The Hang Ups</a>, and <a href="http://www.msplinks.com/MDFodHRwOi8vd3d3LnN1Z2FycGxhc3RpYy5jb20=">The Sugarplastic</a>, and in Europe with <a target="_blank" href="http://www.msplinks.com/MDFodHRwOi8vd3d3LmVlbHN0aGViYW5kLmNvbQ==">The Eels</a> and by ourselves.

Our third album, <a href="http://www.msplinks.com/MDFodHRwOi8vd3d3LnBhcGFzZnJpdGFzLmNvbS9jb250ZW50L2Rpc2NvZ3JhcGh5Lmh0bWw=">Buildings and Grounds</a> was released in the USA, Japan, France, Belgium, Spain, Australia, the Philippines and Holland early in the year 2000. For us, it is a conscious departure away from the sounds of our 'youthful' and 'bouncy' past. There is more sonic space, soloing, Shivika -- more Adult Contemporary (if we may be so bold).

In addition, <a href="http://www.msplinks.com/MDFodHRwOi8vd3d3LnBhcGFzZnJpdGFzLmNvbS9jb250ZW50L2Rpc2NvZ3JhcGh5Lmh0bWw=">Buildings and Grounds</a> is our first exploration of the realm of digital technology. Every song was digitized into our friend Paul Sanni's Pro Tools System and 'perfected' there. Most importantly, we were no longer limited to a measly eight tracks.