Broken Spindles is the brainchild of Joel Petersen of Omaha, Nebraska. He is in other Saddle Creek bands, playing bass guitar in The Faint and Beep Beep. The music is mostly instrumental with minimal vocals which Petersen sings.

It originally started in 2001 as the soundtrack for a friend's film. It developed into a solo project with the first release in 2002 on Tiger Style Records. In between touring with The Faint and Beep Beep, Petersen found time to write music for Broken Spindles.

The song, "Song No Song," from fulfilled/complete was used in a car commercial for Lexus