In late 2004, friends and former bandmates Alexander Even, Adam Russell, Matthew Clark, Gregory Roberts and Stephen Patterson assembled White Rabbits in the college town of Columbia, Missouri. With Alex on guitar, Adam on bass, Gregory on vocals and guitar, Matthew on drums, and Stephen on vocals and pianos, the songwriting commenced. They began working multiple jobs, practicing more, hanging out with friends less and by June 2005 threw everything they owned into their van and moved to New York City; taking with them the Midwestern ethos of such bands as Big Star and The Replacements. They found a loft in Brooklyn and in the hot summer months that followed, music began to take shape in their new dwellings. A year later the boys were joined by Gregory's life-long friend, Jamie Levinson. The fully realized sound draws influence from the latter-day sounds of The Specials, the blue-eyed soul of The Style Council and Aztec Camera, the bombast of classic girl groups and the rhythms of old calypso and afro-beat records.