In October 2008, Blake Schwarzenbach, formerly of Jets to Brazil and Jawbreaker, revealed that he had started writing music for an "as-yet-unnamed group"[2] with the drummer Aaron Cometbus (formerly of Crimpshrine and Pinhead Gunpowder, among other bands) and the bass guitarist Daniela Sea, formerly of the Gr'ups (as "Danyella Dislexica") and Cypher in the Snow, but best known for a recurring role on television's The L Word.
The name may come from Percy Bysshe Shelley whose poem Ode to the West Wind has the line "I fall upon the thorns of life!
[4] In January 2009, they played a string of shows across California including dates in San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco,[5] Oakland, Santa Rosa, Berkeley (selling out 924 Gilman Street)[6] and ending with a final date on February 1, 2009, in Santa Cruz.
[9] In August 2009, Schwarzenbach announced that The Thorns of Life had broken up and that he had started a new band named Forgetters.
[10] Although the band never released any studio recordings, the various bootlegs of their live performances indicate that they wrote a total of twelve songs during their formation: "My First Time", "Available", "I Hate New York", "Kryptonite", "Subway", "Vivid Green", "We Build Al Qaeda in Washington", "From a Tower", "Black Art", "Not a Track Bike", "O Deadly Death" and "Ribbonhead".