In 1997 brothers Jay and Justin Braun launched the Negatones. Jay Braun (vocals, guitar, keyboards) had already toured with the Band of Susans during their final run and later performed bass with the Mooney Suzuki on two North American tours, though he turned down an offer to join that group permanently. Instead he enlisted Justin Braun (vocals, bass) and Jun Takeshta (guitar, xylophone, keyboards), whom the brothers had met in high school. After several drummers rotated through the lineup, Jesse Wallace settled into the role in late 2000. While establishing the band, the Braun brothers earned money as recording assistants and eventually saved enough to cut their debut EP, The Heavy EP, which appeared in May 2002 and drew positive notices. Snacktronica followed as a second EP in 2003.
