Koufax

Blending seventies rock, eighties new wave, nineties emo pop, and Pet Sounds-era Beach Boys textures produced the singular sound that drew praise from underground stars the Get Up Kids. After several Detroit and Northwestern Ohio bands dissolved, singer/guitarist Robert Suchan assembled Koufax, selecting the name from legendary Dodgers pitcher Sandy Koufax. Piano and synthesizer textures dominated the arrangements, supplied principally by keyboardist Sean Grogan yet also by drummer Dave Shettler and Andrew Cameron. The group debuted on Doghouse Records with a self-titled EP in 1999, after which the Get Up Kids arranged a contract on their own imprint, Heroes and Villains, distributed through parent label Vagrant Records. Second keyboardist Jared Rosenberg was added for the 2000 full-length debut It Had to Do With Love and its supporting tours. Two years later the lineup stabilized as a quartet of Shettler, Force, Suchan, and Rosenberg, resulting in the October 2002 release of second studio album Social Life. Switching to Doghouse as their label and welcoming bassist Robert Pope alongside drummer Ryan Pope, the band issued its third long-player, Hard Times Are in Fashion, in summer 2005.