The Velvet Teen

Judah Nagler, handling vocals and guitar, teamed up with drummer Logan Whitehurst to launch a concealed side effort under the name the Secret Band, keeping the material hidden from their existing groupmates. What began in private soon grew into work they wished to release more widely. After capturing a complete demo on four-track equipment, the pair departed Little Tin Frog and issued the EP Comasynthesis under the Velvet Teen banner. Bassist and vocalist Josh Staples came aboard, forming an art pop trio that independently put out The Great Beast February early in 2001. The following year the band opened San Francisco’s Noise Pop Festival and crisscrossed the country behind their debut full-length, Out of the Fierce Parade. Their next album, the eclectic and piano-driven Elysium, surfaced in 2004, yet the same year brought the diagnosis of brain cancer for Whitehurst, who succumbed to the illness in 2006. With Casey Deitz now on drums the group shifted toward EDM textures for the 2006 EP GyzmKid and the album Cum Laude!. Briefly expanding to a quartet by adding guitarist Matthew Izen of Polar Bears and The New Trust, they prepared the No Star EP ahead of a 2010 Japan tour. Returning to a trio without Izen, they commenced work on a fourth album in 2012 alongside co-producers Steve Choi of RX Bandits and Peace’d Out and Roger Camero of No Motiv and Peace’d Out. After inking a deal with Topshelf Records, the band delivered All Is Illusory in 2015.