Rock outfit A Thorn for Every Heart came together in Chino Hills, CA, in summer 2003, built around vocalist Kelvin Cruz, vocalist/guitarist Jeff Harber, guitarist/vocalist Joel Holt, and bassist Justin Powell. The group self-recorded and issued the seven-song EP Silence Is Golden before 2003 closed, generating substantial online word-of-mouth excitement. Their high-energy performances also quickly built a regional audience, and several thousand copies of the EP had sold out by mid-2004. Attention from Kickball Records followed, and after Phil Nguyen replaced Holt the band signed with the label that spring. Appearances at New Jersey's Skate and Surf Fest plus several Warped Tour dates sustained the rising profile through the fall 2004 arrival of debut album Things Aren't So Beautiful Now. That record delivered a melodic fusion of screamo and rock featuring fewer violin parts than earlier material. Nonstop touring preceded the band's January 2006 entry into the studio with producer Matt Squire (Panic! at the Disco, Northstar) to track a second album. The resulting sophomore release, It's Hard to Move You, had been slated for 2007 yet was ultimately shelved after Interscope dissolved Kickball. Without a label the group gradually reassembled—substituting Casey Hill for Jeff Harber—and independently put out the Pick Up The Pieces EP in late 2008. Additional personnel shifts and legal complications led the band to enter hiatus in 2009.
