The group was founded in 1977 by musicians Stefani Starin and Dean Drummond.
As a youth, Drummond performed with the maverick composer Harry Partch in a unique ensemble of microtonal instruments that Partch designed and built himself; Drummond performed in the premieres of Partch’s Daphne of the Dunes, And on the Seventh Day Petals Fell in Petaluma, and Delusion of the Fury, as well as on both Partch Columbia Masterworks recordings made during the late 1960s.
Inspired by Partch's example, Drummond began to invent instruments of his own, creating the "zoomoozophone" and "juststrokerods," metal instruments tuned to subsets of Harry Partch's 43-tone microtonal scale.
With assistance through residencies at the State University of New York at Purchase (1990-1999) and at Montclair State University (1999-present), Drummond was able to insure and repair all of the instruments, duplicating many of them with new materials.
As part of their residency at Montclair State University, Newband offers courses to college students that are based around the special instruments of Newband's ensemble, including "Microtonal Music Ensemble" (for which students may compose new works), a study of Partch's life, instruments and musical theories, and "Music Instrument Repair and Invention," in which students replicate Partch's instruments and develop new instruments.