The band has toured in support of Broken Bells (spring 2010), Grizzly Bear (fall 2009), The Kooks and Death Cab for Cutie (summer 2008), Ra Ra Riot (fall 2008), and has also played with Yo La Tengo, MGMT, Grand Archives, Yeasayer, Two Gallants, The Rosebuds, Au Revoir Simone, We Are Scientists, and White Rabbits.

Chu studied music at the University of California, Berkeley and spent his spare time recording songs from a laptop.

The Morning Benders began playing in local gigs, making friends on MySpace, emailing bloggers, and conversing with club promoters.

In September 2006, The Morning Benders released their first EP titled “Loose Change.” At the time, Chris, Van Pierszalowski, Joe Ferrell, and Tom Peyton were included as band members.

The members involved in this album were Chris Chu, Joe Ferrell, David Perales, and Julian Harmon.

The EP featured covers of many bands and artists including Velvet Underground, The Cardigans, Fleetwood Mac, and The Smiths.

On July 7, 2009, iTunes released a Frank Sinatra tribute album, His Way, Our Way, which included The Morning Benders covering "Strangers in the Night".

The band spent the years following the release of POP ETC writing material for a new record, later announced to be called Souvenir.

This was followed by the official announcement in August 2018 that their next album, Half, featuring many of the singles from the collection, would be released on October 3 of that year.

In January 2011, Chris produced Chloe Makes Music's debut The Puppeteer, and was featured on the song "The Duel".

In October 2013, Chris produced Japanese rock band Galileo Galilei's album ALARMS; he also co-wrote their See More Glass EP.

[5] In December 2014, Chris produced and wrote music for J-pop idol Kimura Kaela's album MIETA.

In April 2015, Chris co-wrote and produced WATERS' album 'What's Real, alongside Ryan Rabin from Grouplove.

Burton's 2009 snowboard movie The B features the song "Waiting for a War" from Talking Through Tin Cans.

Top Gear (season 17, episode 5) references the band in a discussion about the Aston Martin Cygnet & Colette.

"Running in Circles" is included in a YouTube video uploaded by JonTron, in which Jon and his friend Ethan from h3h3Productions attempt to learn martial arts.