The band currently consists of lead singer and guitarist Danny "Lee Blackwell" Rajan Billingsley[1] as the only permanent member.

Danny "Lee Blackwell" Rajan Billingsley had previously fronted various bands in his hometown of Dallas, Texas including The Old Explosives, White Light Fever and Medicine God Box.

[2] With White Light Fever, who were initially called Japanese Auto Clinic,[3] he released debut album Heavy Knife Blues in 2007 and the band were reportedly courted by Columbia Records.

Named after the Sam Cooke album 'Night Beat',[6] the solo self-recorded Street (Atomic) EP was released that year via Holy Twist Records.

[7][8][9] After trying out a couple of different lineups, he asked high school friend and former B.B Mercy drummer James Traeger who was studying in Austin, Texas[10] to move to Seattle to join Night Beats.

After working together as a duo for a few months, they recruited bassist Tarek Wegner in January 2010 and played their first gig in March of that year at a house party in Seattle.

[25] In July 2018, the band (Rajan Billingsley and drummer Jonah Swilley) performed as a duo at the Social in London, England.

Perhaps explaining the absence of founding member James Trager, bass player Jakob Bowden, drummer Evan Snyder and bassist Sam Thorne, the official press release states that the album was "written during a particularly destructive period of the band"[26] In late 2020, Blackwell signed Night Beats to Fuzz Club Records.

[28] In 2022, Danny teamed up with Carolina Faruolo (ex-Los Bitchos) to release the Tropicalia influenced album Monte Carlo on the Seattle based Suicide Squeeze Records.