Jesse Kates (singing, guitar)

Jesse picked up a guitar for the first time in 1996, but couldn't play right-handed due to an old capture-the-flag injury, so he played his roommate's classical upside-down. For weeks he drove everyone crazy by playing the same Archers of Loaf melody again and again on one string. He's been playing lefty ever since.

Jesse's musical career began with Pittsburgh-based indie rockers Whitford, who recorded two wonderful albums of instrumental music featuring guitar, drums, 8-string bass and sax.

Jesse grew up in Montclair and Bloomfield, New Jersey and Atlanta, Georgia. He attended Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania for both his undergraduate and graduate education.

In 2004 Jesse released his first solo album, Sleight of Hand, comprising six loop-based guitar compositions.

Pat Padgett (bass)

Pat Padgett started playing piano when he was 5 years old. With a ravenous appetite for rock music he eventually persuaded his parents to let him begin guitar lessons when he was 12.

While attending high school in Camdenton, Missouri he played guitar in Frelic and Distilleri with his brother Chris. Both of these bands played exclusively at house parties; basements and garages.

Since moving to Kansas City, Pat has played with His Last Chance, Six II Chaos and an ambient project called The Hypergiants.

Daniel Torrence (drums)

Daniel grew up in a small town in Arizona called Yuma. His family moved frequently before landing there because his father was a marine. Daniel now lives in Lee's Summit, MO, where his parents grew up, making him both a native by extension and a transplant.

Daniel's father played in numerous bands, which sparked his interest in music. He was given his first drum set for his thirteenth birthday. Daniel practiced obsessively and played in every available school band. Despite the din, his parents were always supportive and his mother even learned to nap while Daniel would practice.

After his parent's divorce, Daniel's interest in music took on new urgency. He began playing in a band called Small Town Tragedy, which broke up and partially re-formed as In the Fire. In the Fire did well in Kansas City, had a few flirtations with fame and eventually faded. After a dark, forgettable period of soul searching and metal band auditions, Daniel landed with the Sexy Accident. Life is good.

Chad Toney (guitar, singing)

Growing up in a very musical family, it was likely that Chad would play an instrument eventually, though his parents never insisted on any lessons until he asked for them. Chad picked up the guitar at thirteen and his father taught him the basic chords, but his fate was sealed when he discovered the tab to Collective Soul's Shine and started writing his own songs in drop-D.

Chad's high school days provided hours of practice time, and one could find him blues soloing for jazz band and songwriting, playing, and singing in the sardonically irreverent powerpop trio Clive Staples. Since then Chad has played in a variety of bands, both of his own and others' concoction, including Meatwater, Brent Stewart & the Sympathizers, Nathan Clark George, and short-lived KC cover band Almost 8.