Christian rock trio House of Heroes originated in Columbus, Ohio, where its members first assembled under the punk-pop moniker No Tagbacks. Bassist and vocalist A.J. Babcock, drummer and vocalist Colin Rigsby, and vocalist-guitarist Tim Skipper cultivated an early grassroots audience by maintaining a steady touring schedule. Label complications and additional obstacles eventually prompted the musicians to reassess their direction, prompting them to abandon their prior punk-pop approach in favor of a more authentic identity.
Adopting the name House of Heroes to reflect this evolution, the trio refined its sound into focused pop-rock shaped by Weezer and Jimmy Eat World. After recording demos and returning to the road, the band issued its debut album, What You Want Is Now, independently in 2003. The release drew interest from Gotee Records, yet prior contractual entanglements delayed the official signing for eight months. During that interval the group composed material for its Gotee debut, a self-titled album released in May 2005. House of Heroes promoted the record by opening for MxPx and Relient K. One year later the label’s sister imprint Mono vs. Stereo reissued the project as Say No More, adding two previously unreleased tracks and enhanced multimedia content.
The band maintained an active touring schedule through summer 2006. Its third studio album, the critically acclaimed The End Is Not the End, arrived in 2008 and became its most ambitious and commercially successful effort. Three EPs followed in 2009, among them House of Heroes Meets the Beatles, which featured covers of several songs by the Fab Four. Mark Lee Townsend produced the subsequent full-length Suburba, which entered the Billboard 200 at number 48 in 2010 and received a Dove Award nomination. Cold Hard Want appeared in 2012, after which the contract-fulfilling compilation EP The Knock-Down Drag-Outs surfaced in 2013. The independent Smoke EP marked the group’s first self-released project since 2003 when it emerged in 2014, while the crowdfunded Colors arrived in 2015 as the band’s initial concept album.
