David Bazan formed the band in 1995 and represented its main creative force, backed by a varying rotation of collaborating musicians.

[2] In 1997 they released their debut EP Whole with Bazan playing nearly every instrument, a format he continued on the band's first two full-length albums, It's Hard to Find a Friend (1998), and Winners Never Quit (2000).

[3] The album's thematic content criticizes American capitalism, which Bazan notes was largely inspired by the sentiments surrounding the World Trade Organization protests in 1999.

Among other collaborations with music artists, Foubert has subsequently worked as a touring musician for singer-songwriter Sufjan Stevens and the Portland-based indie rock band, The Shins.

[4] Achilles Heel followed, released on May 24, 2004, and marked the beginning of Bazan's partnership with TW Walsh as the band's primary writers and musicians.

[5] Bazan described the tracks in the fourth full-length from Pedro the Lion as a return to the songwriting characterized by Friend and the Secure EP in the sense that there was no "pretense of anything bigger", an allusion to his previous concept albums.