Head of Femur (band)

Head of Femur
Origin	Chicago, Illinois, United States
Genres	Indie rock
Years active	2001–present

Head of Femur is a Chicago band formed in November 2001 by Nebraska natives Mike Elsener, Ben Armstrong and Matt Focht. The band was initially conceived as a forum for the three to compose pop songs while awaiting the reformation of their previous band, Pablo's Triangle. As the weeks passed the reformation looked unlikely.

With a large catalog of songs already taking shape by early 2002, Head of Femur began to recruit musicians to flesh out the lineup for live performance. The nature of the music demanded more than the traditional rock band instrumentation, so strings, trumpet, and orchestral percussion were added along with drums and bass guitar. Head of Femur played their first show at a small club in Chicago in March 2002. They made plans to record a demo with local producer Jim Bentley and perform at Chicago's The Empty Bottle.

On the strength of that demo, Portland's Greyday Productions signed Head of Femur in November 2002. Recording sessions for the band's debut album, Ringodom or Proctor, took place in March 2003. Ten of Ringodom's eleven songs were among the first of the dozens composed by Elsener, Armstrong and Focht, and had been intended to comprise the first record since their inception. The album was recorded at Lincoln, Nebraska's Presto! Recording Studios with A. J. Mogis.

Following more than a year of touring as an 8-piece (2 guitars, trumpet, trombone, violin, drums, keys, 4 vocals and percussion) with such acts as Bright Eyes and Rilo Kiley, as well as outings on their own, Head of Femur signed with Brooklyn's spinART Records in the summer of 2004.

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