[2] Born in Wellington, New Zealand, Wareham's family relocated to Sydney, Australia, before eventually settling in New York City in 1977.

Guitarist Wareham, drummer Damon Krukowski and bassist Naomi Yang began playing together as Galaxie 500 in 1987, after their time as students at Harvard University.

Galaxie 500 leveraged fairly minimal instrumental technique with intense atmospherics provided by producer Mark Kramer, and their distinctive sound bore an influence beyond the small audience for their independently released albums.

[5] Lee Wall replaced Demeski on drums in time for 1997's Pup Tent, and Britta Phillips of Belltower (also known as the singing voice of animated character Jem) joined when bassist Justin Harwood departed in 2000.

The trio recorded some more demos (produced by Dave Fridmann) and played a couple of live dates augmented by Mercury Rev guitarist Grasshopper (Sean Mackowiak).

Penthouse was co-produced by Mario Salvati and Pat McCarthy in New York, and features guests Tom Verlaine (Television) and Laetitia Sadier (Stereolab).

[5] In 1997, Lee Wall replaced Stanley Demeski on drums, and the band recorded Pup Tent, their fourth album for Elektra,[5] produced by Pat McCarthy.

The band announced plans to break up in 2004, and played a final concert at the Bowery Ballroom in New York City on 28 February 2005.

However, in 2015 the band returned, toured the world and released new material in 2017 - the LP A Sentimental Education and the EP A Place of Greater Safety.

The book recounts his experiences in music and otherwise, from high school in New York City in the 1970s through his years in Galaxie 500 and Luna and his divorce.