A Frames

Seattle's experimental punk trio the A Frames consists of vocalist and guitarist Erin Sullivan, bassist Min Yee, and drummer Lars Finberg. The three musicians had already performed together in multiple projects since the late '90s, among them the Intelligence, the Dipers, and the Un-Natural Helpers. Originally operating under the name Bend Sinister, the group adopted the A Frames moniker in 1999 and started self-recording in early 2000. That same year they established their own imprint, Dragnet, rather than pursue outside interest, and tracked additional material in Sacramento, California, alongside Scott Soriano.

Dragnet issued the band's debut single, Neutron Bomb/Radiation Generation/Test Tube Baby, in 2000. The A Frames then returned to Sacramento for further sessions. Soriano's own label, S-S Records, put out the follow-up single Plastica in early 2001. By the fall of that year the group had assembled sufficient songs for a self-titled debut album, jointly issued by Dragnet and S-S in spring 2002. They cut their second album, A Frames 2, during the autumn and saw it released through S-S the next spring. Later in 2003 the A Frames completed and then discarded early recordings intended for a third album. The following year they signed with Sub Pop, which brought out Black Forest—again produced with Soriano—in early 2005. In 2006 Finberg departed to focus on the Intelligence.