Pedro The Lion

After a shifting lineup, Pedro the Lion finally eventually became a one-man outfit. That man is David Bazan. A Seattle native, Bazan cut his teeth playing in hardcore bands before forming Pedro in 1995, taking the band's name from a character he made up for a possible children's book. Under the moniker of Pedro the Lion, Bazan creates melodic pop in the vein of Bedhead, Hayden, and Sebadoh, with a lyrical focus on relationships — with both other people and God. Bazan also plays in the band Unwed Sailor with Johnathon Ford of Roadside Monument. Pedro the Lion's debut full-length album, It's Hard to Find a Friend, was released in 1998. An EP titled The Only Reason I Feel Secure shortly followed, and in early 2000 Pedro the Lion returned with Winners Never Quit on Jade Tree. In 2001, Jade Tree reissued the band's first two records, and Casey Foubert joined the band to handle bass, percussion, and keyboard duties for the next record, 2002's Control. In 2004, the band issued their most expansive album, Achilles Heel. Two years later, in early 2006, Bazan retired the Pedro moniker to continue on with solo work under his own name; the first "official" David Bazan release, the Fewer Moving Parts EP, appeared that July. Long-time collaborator and multi-instrumentalist T.W. Walsh moved on with his own project, the Soft Drugs, and returned to a career in software engineering.