Why? (American band)

Why?
Yoni Wolf of Why? performing in Brussels in 2010
Background information
Origin	Berkeley, California Cincinnati, Ohio
Genres	Indie rock Alternative hip hop Alternative rock
Years active	2004–present
Labels	Anticon, City Slang
Website	www.whywithaquestionmark.com/
Members	Jonathan "Yoni" Wolf Josiah Wolf Doug McDiarmid Liz Hodson Matt Meldon Ben Sloan
Past members	Austin Brown Andrew Broder Mark Erickson Sarah Winters

Why? (styled as WHY?) is an American alternative hip hop and indie rock band.

The band was founded in 2004 by Berkeley, California artist Jonathan "Yoni" Wolf, who had been using 'Why?' as his stage name since 1997.

In 2004, Yoni Wolf enlisted his older brother Josiah, Doug McDiarmid, and Matt Meldon and formed Why?. At this time, he stopped using 'Why?' as his personal stage name.

Why? released their debut album Elephant Eyelash in 2005. The album deviated considerably from the sound of Yoni Wolf's final solo project under the Why? moniker, the 2003 album Oaklandazulasylum, expanding to the sound of a full indie rock band. The group toured much of 2005 in support of the album as a four-piece. By the time of their May 2006 tour with Islands, the group had become a three-piece because Matt Meldon moved to San Juan Island off the coast of Washington to live with his girlfriend. In 2008, the group added bassist Austin Brown to their lineup, making them a four-piece once again.

For their second album Alopecia, Why? asked the fans to contribute photographs of their palms for the album's artwork. They released "The Hollows" as the first single with two different European and US versions, featuring remixes and covers by Boards of Canada, Xiu Xiu, Dntel, Half-handed Cloud, Dump and Islands. Alopecia was released in 2008 to very positive reviews.

In 2009, Why? released their third album Eskimo Snow. The ten songs on the album were recorded during the Alopecia sessions and are described by Yoni Wolf as "the least hip-hop out of anything I've ever been involved with."

On June 27, 2012, the band announced via Stereogum that they would be releasing their new EP Sod in the Seed on August 13 on City Slang. In the same article, they premiered the title track. The song is more upbeat than any of the tracks on Eskimo Snow and contains rapping, which had been absent on the previous album.