Future Islands

Led by crooning frontman Samuel T. Herring, the members of Future Islands started out making electro-pop music together in 2003 while attending East Carolina University’s art program. Along with Herring, Adam Beeby, William Cashion, J. Gerrit Welmers, and Kymia Nawabi were the initial members of the group, and they played shows around campus as Art Lord & the Self-Portraits. In 2006 after the band split, Herring, Cashion, and Welmers continued under the name Future Islands and picked up the Kickass bassist Erick Murillo to round out the low-end. The band released a few CD-Rs, splits, and cassettes before Murillo moved on in a more indie rock direction, and relocated to Baltimore with the encouragement of Dan Deacon. His producer, Chester Endersby Gwazda, recorded Future Island's debut, Wave Like Home in 2008, and he continued to work with the band for 2010’s In the Fall EP and the full-lengths In Evening Air and 2011’s On the Water, which were released by Thrill Jockey.