Scott Butler- Vocals, Keys, Guitar
Landon Thompson - Guitar
John Aldridge - Bass
Billy Potts - Drums

Scott, Landon and John met while in school in Nashville.  After moving to Austin, they formed The Black and White Years, using a Roland Juno-G as their drummer.  In 2007, the band released their debut record, produced by Talking Head and Modern Lover, Jerry Harrison.  Since then, they have played several South by Southwests, Austin City Limits, MIDEM in Cannes, and the CMJ festival in NYC.  In 2008, Billy Potts joined the band, replacing the Juno-G as drummer.  Now Juno-G must be satisfied simply being a keyboard.  They are currently hard at work recording and producing their second record, tentatively titled A Toast to Modern Science.

Roland keys. Landon plays a PRS through a VOX tube amp. John plays Fender.  Scott plays cheap Telecaster copies, Squires and whatnot.  Billy plays acoustic drums and uses a drum trigger to add the electro beats.

We often hear that we are reminiscent of Talking Heads, but some of that surely comes from our choice of producer.  As far as what influences my songwriting, I am much more interested in Sondheim musicals (especially Into the Woods and Sweeney Todd) and Brazilian music from the 60's and 70's (especially Chico Buarque, Antonio Carlos Jobim, and Milton Nascimento) than Talking Heads.  I was raised with heavy doses of Duran Duran, Depeche Mode, The Cure and Thomas Dolby, thanks to my older brothers.  And as nerd-boy as it sounds, my longstanding, deep love of video games has also slipped into my songwriting.  I've often caught myself letting shreds of Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time slip in.  Lyrically, I am bookish. I love Shakespeare and James Joyce.  When I'm in the mood for a laugh, Kurt Vonnegut and Douglas Adams.  I'm also a nerd for fantasy novels: Tolkein, Harry Potter and the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan.  Our first single, "Power to Change," was based on the books The Story of B and Ishmael by Daniel Quinn.  So, to sum it all up, our main influences are: Sondheim, video games and Shakespeare.