Somerset

Somerset emerged from Minneapolis, MN, in September 2002 with a sound that tweaks the pop-punk blueprint into a forceful blend of rock, raw edge, and intensity while holding onto straightforward pop appeal. The lineup includes Forrest Olsen handling vocals and guitar, Claudio Rivera on drums, Matt Broadbent on bass, and Michael Warren on guitar. Within days of getting together the quartet laid down its earliest recordings, then completed and independently issued the five-song EP This Thought Process four months later. With that release in hand, the group arranged an initial run of shows and began pitching tracks to college stations.

Next the band entered the studio with producer Chris Fudurich (Nada Surf, RX Bandits), resulting in additional demos wrapped up by fall 2003; those tracks surfaced the following spring as free online downloads and as a three-song mini-EP. An East Coast tour came next, during which Warren suddenly departed halfway through the dates. The remaining members responded by bringing in friend JT Viele on guitar and backing vocals, allowing the band to resume touring and set out for the West Coast within seven days. That November, Somerset tracked its first full-length album once more with Fudurich. An early connection to editor Scott Heisel (punknews.org and later Alternative Press magazine) led to the group becoming the inaugural signing on the newly launched Punknews Records, a subsidiary of the well-known news site. Pandora arrived in August 2005 and met with largely favorable notices.

The following summer the band paused briefly while Rivera served as drum tech for Motion City Soundtrack on the Warped Tour, yet by mid-August the members had reconvened and began performing new material.