[4] In search of a record deal and more stable lineup, the Tooker brothers relocated to Los Angeles, California, where they moved in with their father, Tim.
In support of his two sons, he allowed them to set up a rehearsal space in his living room and even lent his bass playing skills to the band lineup in order to help provide some stability.
[3] It was during this writing and rehearsal period that the lineup finally found a permanent drummer in Scott Carneghi; a Los Angeles resident who originated from Chicago.
While living in Los Angeles, both Ryan and Dustin Tooker worked jobs in the music industry, allowing them to make vital contacts before eventually signing a management deal.
Despite not participating in the recording, Couturier was listed as the bassist in the album's liner notes and given equal authority when listening to the final mixes.
This brought the band further success, as the single reached #1 on the college rock charts and several tracks from their debut album made appearances in other media, including the TV series The Sopranos and the video game True Crime: Streets of LA.
[7] It was later suggested that their respective record labels had pulled tour support due to being unsatisfied with the lack of commercial success of their latest albums.
[2] In the fall of 2003, with the assistance of their new manager as well as Paige Haley, the band recruited a new bassist in Brian 'Stitch' Foster, from Los Angeles.
[2] After auditioning several drummers, and firing a short-lived permanent one, Wade Hagblom, the Tooker brothers called Josh Garcia, whom they'd met the previous year on a radio show in Modesto, California.
The space was less than ideal, as the band had to build their own bunks to sleep in, and found their rehearsal shed to be constantly infested with Black Widow spiders and Scorpions.
They subsequently brought in Aaron Zilch, who'd just left American Head Charge, to handle electronics and keyboard duties.
With only a limited amount of available time in the studio, the band were forced to sacrifice production quality in order to record what they needed to do.
The resultant album sounded considerably poorer in quality compared to their debut, with only a few guitar and vocal overdubs managed and Zilch's parts recorded on his own computer, outside of the studio.
Our manager had hooked up a great deal with a major box chain to put the record into stores in any region where we were active via radio or touring.
He wanted to get things kicked off in CA right away, so we struggled to at least get some guitar and vocal overdubs tracked, and give it a more focused mixing, in the short amount of time available.
Though he did turn my parts up and killed the guitars in the verses of "Fighting Me""[15]On August 4, 2008, after a long period of silence, Dustin and Ryan Tooker finally posted a blog on the Grade 8 Myspace page, signaling the end of the band, stating: "I think we are just ready to do other things, and we wanted to leave Grade 8 the way it was, not change the sound."