Pop Etc

The Morning Benders started in 2005 as a solo-project for Chris Chu. During that time, he spent his days studying music at the University of California, Berkeley, whilst spending his nights recording songs from a laptop. As time passed, he formed a band with friends who he had met in UC Berkeley.

The band did all they could to spread word about The Morning Benders; playing in local gigs, making many friends on MySpace, emailing bloggers, and conversing with club promoters. This led to offers from various local independent labels. The Morning Benders chose +1 Records to support them in recording their albums.

Loose Change, the Morning Benders' first EP, was released in September 2006. The members at the time included Chris, Van Pierszalowski, Joe Ferrell, and Tom Peyton. The EP was recorded on a laptop.

In early 2007, the Morning Benders released a second EP, Boarded Doors. The EP was recorded in the band's basement, which was also their practice space. During this time, Chris started to work as a studio engineer to help to pay for his band's recordings.

Their debut album Talking Through Tin Cans was produced, engineered, and mixed by Chris Chu. It was released on their label +1 Records. The album's style was referred to as "So-Cal 60's pop". They had toured with various acts, including The Kooks and Death Cab for Cutie. In December, iTunes called the album the best indie/alternative album of 2008. The members involved in this album were Chris Chu, Joe Ferrell, David Perales, and Julian Harmon.

The Morning Benders released the Bedroom Covers EP, on Gigantic, their old blog. The EP featured covers of many bands and artists including Velvet Underground, The Cardigans, Fleetwood Mac, and The Smiths. The cover artwork was done by Kyle Lee.

In 2009, the Morning Benders toured the US with The Submarines. They both covered each other's songs, with The Morning Benders doing a cover of "1940's", whilst the Submarines did a cover of "Waiting for a War." During March, they also performed at SXSW in Austin, Texas.

They performed with their friend John Vanderslice on May 19 at San Francisco's Rickshaw Stop. On May 20, they did a show at El Rey Theatre with The Walkmen. The Morning Benders toured the UK and Europe in early August. On August 28–30, they played the Outside Lands Festival in San Francisco.

During October, they toured with Grizzly Bear, and in December, they toured with Girls.

The Grain of Salt EP was released on February 24, 2009, and included songs such as "A Song" and "Your Dark Side." There was also a different version of "Grain of Salt" included as a bonus track. On July 7, 2009, iTunes released a Frank Sinatra tribute album, His Way, Our Way, which included The Morning Benders covering "Strangers in the Night". On December 15, 2009, The Morning Benders signed to Rough Trade Records to release their next album in early 2010.

Influenced by many contemporary bands and artists, including Phil Spector – who developed the "Wall of Sound" recording technique in the 1950s and 60s – Big Echo was recorded in eleven days and mixed on the twelfth day in Brooklyn. Chris Taylor from Grizzly Bear helped produce the album. "Excuses", the first track of the album, was given many positive reviews. The second song, "Promises", had a music video, which described children growing up too fast. The album was released on March 9, 2010 on Rough Trade.

In 2010, Chris Chu's brother Jon replaced Joe Ferrell as the band's guitarist. They gathered with all their closest friends to play a live performance of "Excuses" on Yours Truly. The band moved to Brooklyn. In October 2010, they debuted their new song "Virgins" on La Blogothèque.

They had earlier planned to have a tour in Tokyo, but because of the disastrous Japanese earthquake and tsunami, they had to cancel and reschedule their gigs. They released Japan Echo EP earlier in 2011, which supported those who experienced devastation during the resulting floods. The EP included many artists such as Twin Sister, Star Slinger and Wild Nothing. In early August, the band were finally able to play at Summer Sonic in Tokyo and Osaka. In 2012, the band changed their name to POP ETC and released a self-titled album.

The band spent the years following the release of POP ETC writing material for a new record, later announced to be called Souvenir. They supported The Wombats on tour in 2015 and in January 2016, toured the Northeast US with Oh Wonder.

Beginning with "Routine" in March 2017, the band put out a series of singles, dubbed the Infinite Singles Collection, throughout 2017 and 2018. This was followed by the official announcement in August 2018 that their next album, Half, featuring many of the singles from the collection, would be released on October 3 of that year.

• Talking Through Tin Cans (2008)
• Big Echo (2010)
• Pop Etc (2012)
• Souvenir (2016)
• Half (2018)

• Loose Change (2006)
• Boarded Doors (2007)
• Waiting for a War (2008)
• The Bedroom Covers (2008)
• Grain of Salt (2009)
• Lipstick (2009)
• Japan Echo (2011)

• Promises (2010)
• Go Grab a Stranger (2010)
• Virgins (2010)
• Running in Circles (2015)

• Pop Etc Mixtape (2012)

• The Bedroom Covers (2008)
• Lemonade - Skin & Bones (2009)

• His Way, Our Way (Frank Sinatra tribute album)
• Stroked: A Tribute to Is This It (The Strokes tribute album)[4]
• The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 (soundtrack)
• Zankyou no Terror (Original Soundtrack)