John Haughm was born in Ellensburg, Washington,[citation needed] and grew up in Butte, Montana, where he played in several metal bands as a teenager, some of which were with future Agalloch bassist Jason William Walton.

Haughm and Walton moved to Portland where they met Don Anderson, guitarist of Sculptured, and found that they had "tremendously similar taste in music and cinema".

They released Obsidian Arc in March 2017 and performed 100 shows in support of the album, including two American and two European tours between spring 2017 and summer 2018.

In February 2019, Haughm was criticized by his most recent former Agalloch bandmates for posting a comment on Facebook that was perceived as antisemitic while paying tribute to the late Swiss actor Bruno Ganz.

[3] In January 2020, an interview with Don Anderson indicated that he and John had mended their friendship and that Haughm regretted making the comment.