The St. Louis alt-pop quartet Colony (singer Ted Bruner, guitarist Jon Armstrong, bassist Andy Conrad, and drummer Matt Hickenbotham) has been playing together since their high school days in the early '90s. The band even survived when the members went to college and eventually signed to MCA in 1997 to issuing their debut, Siren, in September of the same year. Although the album failed to catch on nationally, Colony built a sizeable audience by gigging around their hometown. 2001 saw the group receive the honor of best new artist at the St. Louis music awards, the Slammies, as Colony signed to the Beyond label, who issued their sophomore effort, Who I Wanted to Be. Prior to the album's release, its first single, "Happy," appeared in the movie Rat Race.