The loose, garage punk-influenced indie rock of Calpurnia took root when preteen actors Finn Wolfhard and Malcolm Craig met on a music video shoot for the 2014 single "Guilt Trip" by fellow Canadians PUP. At the time, Wolfhard had yet to be cast as Mike Wheeler on the Netflix series Stranger Things and Craig hadn't yet appeared on series like Frequency and Bates Motel. Cast as younger versions of the band, Craig already played the drums, and Wolfhard was inspired to take up the guitar in real life. The pair reunited for PUP's 2016 video "Sleep in the Heat" and decided to form their own band. They recruited photographer/bassist Jack Anderson and lead guitarist Ayla Tesler-Mabe, who'd been making waves with viral guitar videos of her covering the likes of Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page. Wolfhard was still just 14 years old in 2017 when he joined Mac DeMarco on stage and the band started landing opening spots for acts like Weird Al Yankovic and Tenacious D without having released any music. Recorded with Twin Peaks' Cadien James, Calpurnia's debut single, "City Boy," arrived in early 2018 via Transgressive and Royal Mountain Records. ~ Marcy Donelson