Austin, TX's Adult Rodeo formed in 1995 out of the ashes of guitarists/bassists/vocalists Stephanie Mankins and Rob Erickson's collegiate music project Harmala. After moving from Rhode Island to New York to California, in 1998 the duo hooked up with keyboardist/programmer Kristin Erickson and recorded their debut album, The Kissyface. A copy of the album made its way to Kramer, who released it on his Shimmy Disc label. The following year the group recorded their second album Texxas which was released in early 2000, which also featured contributions from Kramer and Mankins' sister Stephanie on drums. That year Adult Rodeo also added full-time drummer Karl Lundin and guitarist Toby Scroggins to the lineup.