Throughout the 2010s, Sacramento post-hardcore combo Secret Band released two dramatic LPs and a pair of EPs, establishing a heavier and more cathartic sound that set them apart from their parent band, Dance Gavin Dance, which provides the bulk of the group's membership. Originally launched in 2011 as a secret side project by Dance Gavin Dance members Jon Mess (vocals), Will Swan (guitar), Matthew Mingus (drum), and Eric Lodge (bass), Secret Band released their eponymous first EP that same year. With a more aggressive, largely screamed approach that bordered on metalcore, they offered up their self-titled full-length debut in 2014, by which time they'd recruited second guitarist Martin Bianchini and replaced Lodge with incoming bassist Jordan McCoy. Their initial output arrived on Swan's own Blue Swan Records imprint, but in 2019 Secret Band signed with Rise Records and released their follow-up, LP2, in April of that year. ~ Timothy Monger