We Are Scientists

We Are Scientists members Keith Murray and Chris Cain met in 1997 at Pomona College, along with original guitarist and vocalist Scott Lamb. Scott would eventually leave the band in 1999, with Keith taking the roles of lead vocalist and guitarist. Keith and Chris met drummer Michael Tapper at nearby Harvey Mudd College, with both colleges being in Claremont, California. In 1999 the members moved to Berkeley, California for a short period of time, becoming We Are Scientists full time, a name which the band have stated a number of origins for, most notably the song "We are Scientists!" from the pivotal '90s band Cap'n Jazz. However, the true origin of their name is this: they rented a truck from U-Haul. When they returned it, the inspector, after looking them up and down, asked if they were scientists. They said no, but immediately regretted it. After their move to Brooklyn, New York in 2001 the band began self recording their debut album on November 10, 2001 before eventually finishing the recording process in January 2002. The albums title was announced on March 14, 2002 on the band's official website as Safety, Fun, and Learning (In That Order) as well as the return of original vocalist, songwriter and guitarist Scott Lamb for the band's summer 2002 tour. The album was delayed for some time, due to issues with their record label Devious Semantics, but was eventually released in June 2002. In October after several months of performing in California and New York, amongst other places the band recorded their first EP, available originally only at live shows Bitching! was released on October 14, 2002, and featured 6 tracks. Later Bitching! was made available online on January 16, 2003. In March 2003 the band announced they would be heading to the recording studio with Paolo DeGregorio on April 1 to record a second EP; In Action, which was released through MotherWest records in October 2003, featuring 6 tracks. A year after recording In Action the band headed once more to the recording studio with Los Angeles based producer Chris Fudurich, where they recorded rough versions of "The Great Escape", "Scene Is Dead" and "This Means War", which would make up half of the band's final independently released EP The Wolf's Hour, other tracks included "Callbacks Under The Sea", "Inaction" and "Nobody Move, Nobody Gets Hurt". The EP was released on November 26, 2004.