[1][2] The band's name is a misspelled reference to Emmett Till, who died after being shot and thrown into a river.
"The idea of the name was basically that a 14-year-old boy should be swimming in the river, not dying in it," said singer/founder Todd Watts.
Regularly sold-out performances at the Fairfax live-music staples Planet NOVA, TT Reynolds and Fat Tuesday's drew major record label attention culminating in a deal with Epic/Sony and the band continuously toured for over seven years, performing 200–300 shows per year.
They still regularly play venues such as the 9:30 Club (including a show there in the summer of 2018 that sold out in 2 days) in Washington, DC and the Tally Ho Theater in Leesburg, VA.
The band has sold over 250,000 albums and has been nominated for 14 Washington Area Music Awards (WAMMIES).