The Films

In 2003 four Charleston, South Carolina high school classmates launched the indie pop outfit the Films, with Michael Trent serving as lead vocalist and guitarist, Kenneth Harris covering guitar and keyboards, Jake Sinclair on bass, and Adam C. Blake on drums. Drawing from sources that ranged from Tom Petty to Elliott Smith, the quartet swiftly built a local following and extended their reach by playing regular shows throughout the South and West. Their first recording, a self-titled EP, appeared on the independent Filter label in 2005, after which they stepped up to a major-label debut with the four-song Reprise release Being Bored in fall 2006. That association proved brief, prompting the band to issue its debut full-length, Don't Dance Rattlesnake, on the European 7Hz imprint.

Following an initial relocation from Charleston to Denver, the group settled in New York and issued its sophomore album Oh, Scorpio as a self-release through various digital outlets in summer 2009. Frontman Trent pursued several side endeavors during the same period, among them a self-titled acoustic solo record, the duo Shovels & Rope formed with Cary Ann Hearst, and co-writing sessions with Butch Walker that supplied multiple tracks to Walker’s 2010 album I Liked It Better when You Had No Heart.