The band was formed in 1997 by Matador Records employees and a professional record collector for jamming. Initially having no plans to record or to tour, the band played their first live show in 2001 as an opening act for Pavement's Stephen Malkmus. After releasing a pair of rare vinyl LPs from 2005, the band released the albums Focus Level in 2008 and Full House Head in 2010. Touring with bands such as Dungen and Circle, the band released their fourth album, Long Island in 2013
The band's style has been labeled as hard rock, psychedelic rock, stoner rock and blues rock. The band's minimalist musical style also attributes krautrock influences, being described as "classic-rock-meets-krautrock" and " repetitive, one-chord riff-rock." The band described their musical style as "Kraut Southern rock."
The band's style also has been compared to those of ZZ Top, AC/DC, Teenage Head-era Flamin’ Groovies, Canned Heat, Amon Düül, Can, The Groundhogs, The Stooges and the Velvet Underground. Tom Hughes of The Guardian described Major's vocals as being "somewhere between a John Lee Hooker drawl and a Captain Beefheart honk
The band is known for "its minimalist jams both onstage and on record.
Two or three guitars, whatever amps you got, one wah pedal, one distortion box. The bass, the drums. Reluctant vocals, that’s all we need.
Present Band Members:
Paul "Top Dollar" Major – vocals, guitar
Jesper "The Governor" Eklow – guitar
Marc Razo – bass
Harry Druzd – drums
- Former member - Chris Gray – drums
P/W - 33&third
