Peter Arcuni, a native of Connecticut and former editorial assistant at Wired, formed Birdmonster in 2004 with three other local San Francisco musicians: childhood friends bassist Justin Tenuto and guitarist David Klein, and drummer Zach Winter.

They also courted Internet radio stations, like San Francisco's BagelRadio.com, whose owner convinced a booker to give the band its first high-visibility show, opening for Clap Your Hands Say Yeah.

[1] In the summer of 2005, David Klein paid $500 to include "Resurrection Song" on a Magnet magazine sampler, which attracted music industry attention.

"[3] The band decided to self-release their debut album, No Midnight, hiring producer Bradley Cook, who had previously worked with Foo Fighters and Queens of the Stone Age.

The album was produced and engineered by Tom Schick, who has also worked with Ryan Adams, Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, Norah Jones, and Rufus Wainwright.