Matt Schmalfeld (vocals/guitar), Kyle Gibson (vocals/guitar), Cameron Crowe (bass), and Thomas Alvarez (drums) first formed in 2002 under the name Nontoxic when the four friends were still in grade school. By 2009, they had become Audacity and signed with hometown indie empire Burger Records and released their debut LP, Power Drowning. Their mix of punk, garage, and slacker pop was a perfect fit for the label, and between their debut and 2012 follow-up, Mellow Cruisers, they began to tour extensively and somehow found the time to issue a handful of EPs and singles. Seattle indie Suicide Squeeze issued their next full-length, 2013's Butter Knife, which was followed by a tour of Europe and Japan and a prolific run of singles via labels like Volar and Burger. Their next album, 2016's Hyper Vessels, was presided over by Ty Segall and Isaac Thotz at Segall's home studio in Eagle Rock, California. It was the last album to feature Crowe on bass, as he left the band just as it was being released. ~ Timothy Monger