Daytona

The three musicians who would form the indie rock trio Daytona first collaborated while attending college in the North Carolina music hub of Chapel Hill. Each relocated to Brooklyn independently by 2011, where guitarist Hunter Simpson—who also performs with the local folk/punk outfit Wild Yaks—joined forces once more with bassist Jose Boyer and drummer Christopher Lauderdale. In New York they resumed performing and laying down tracks under the Daytona name. Blending African and Caribbean rhythms into their melodic post-rock approach, the band issued their debut EP Storm So Long during 2012 and subsequently inked a deal with Ernest Jenning Record Company. Working alongside Chapel Hill native Ari Picker, the producer from Lost in the Trees, they completed their self-titled first full-length album for a late 2013 release.