Head of Femur is an American Chicago-based band, formed in November 2001 by Nebraska natives Mike Elsener, Ben Armstrong and Matt Focht.
With a large catalog of songs already taking shape by early 2002, Head of Femur began to recruit musicians to flesh out the lineup for live performance.
The nature of the music demanded more than the traditional rock band instrumentation, so strings, trumpet, and orchestral percussion were added along with drums and bass guitar.
Ten of Ringodom's eleven songs were among the first of the dozens composed by Elsener, Armstrong and Focht, and had been intended to comprise the first record since their inception.
[2] Following more than a year of touring as an 8-piece (2 guitars, trumpet, trombone, violin, drums, keys, 4 vocals and percussion) with such acts as Bright Eyes and Rilo Kiley, as well as outings on their own, Head of Femur signed with Brooklyn's spinART Records in the summer of 2004.
The songs, including covers from The Band and Neil Young and Crazy Horse were released in late 2005 as an iTunes exclusive EP.