Lead singer and guitarist Nick Thomas (born May 25, 1984) grew up in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and began learning how to play guitar at 11 years old.
Vocalist Becca Flinn approached Thomas following a solo show and the two formed the beginnings of the band, adding bassist Alan Burkhard and violinist Hannah Peskey.
The Spill Canvas self-released its first five-song CD titled Concept EP in May 2003, produced at Cathouse Studios in Sioux Falls.
The band's first widespread album, Sunsets and Car Crashes, which was written, produced, and performed by Thomas, was released by One Eleven Records on April 20, 2004.
Thomas was joined by members Joe Beck, Brian Anderson, Ross Wheeler, and Brandon Aegerter to tour the release of Sunsets and Car Crashes.
In early 2007, McGuire declared that he was no longer a part of the band, stating, "The Spill Canvas has decided in order to make music to its fullest potential, they must do so without me."
On this tour, most vocalists from all of the opening bands, including Nick, came up during Augustana's set to perform Traveling Wilbury's hit "Handle With Care", trading off lead vocals.
Abnormalities, featuring new music from the band, was released on January 12, 2010, through The Spill Canvas store and digital retailers.
On April 20, 2012, The Spill Canvas released the first track off of their upcoming album Gestalt, called "To Chicago" on their PureVolume account.
[10] After a hiatus lead singer Nick Thomas released a solo record funded by Kickstarter called Shadowars in 2014.
The singer has been touring the record nationally with spill canvas bassist Landon Heil and new drummer Bryce Job.
Thomas and Job embarked on a brief east coast acoustic run with another South Dakota band Paradise Fears and William Beckett of The Academy Is.
[11] Then the full Nick Thomas band toured in November with co-headliners Deleasa and Cassio Monroe spanning the east coast.
The Spill Canvas joined Motion City Soundtrack's 10 year anniversary of Commit This To Memory tour in July 2015.
While not officially a member of The Spill Canvas, Mike Naran played guitar as part of their live show since joining them in Cambridge, MA in August, 2015.