Although
Sound Team didn't officially form until later, the band had its beginnings in a friendship started up by University of Texas classmates
Bill Baird and
Matt Oliver. They were both playing around in various bands, but their interest in home recording brought them together musically. After college, they ended up in Portland, OR, staying with
Baird's friends
Sam Sanford and Gabe Pearlman (who would later join
Sound Team) and holding down office jobs while still writing, recording, and performing some of their own material. In 2001 the duo moved back to Texas, and soon brought in Willis Diviney on drums,
Baird's brother Michael, who was still in high school at the time, on keyboards and synthesizers, and
Sanford on guitar. With this line-up (the elder
Baird took songwriting and bass duties while
Oliver did guitar and lead vocals),
Sound Team used a four-track to record the CD-R Into the Lens, released in 2002. That same year Michael's former bandmate Jordan Johns, took over for Deviney, and soon Pearlman joined in and keyboards. After issuing some self-released albums and cassettes, the band started Big Orange Records in Austin, where they laid down material for their 2005 EP, Work, and their full-length,
Movie Monster, which was released on Capitol in 2006. ~ Marisa Brown