Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros

Origin and first studio album (Up From Below)

After years of the Los Angeles party life and subsequent drug addiction, Ima Robot frontman Alex Ebert broke up with his then-girlfriend, moved out of his house, and spent time in rehab. During this time, Ebert began to write a book about a messianic figure named Edward Sharpe that was "sent down to Earth to kinda heal and save mankind, but he kept getting distracted by girls and falling in love." Ebert adopted the Sharpe persona as his alter ego. He said, "I don't want to put too much weight on it, because in some ways it's just a name that I came up with. But I guess if I look deeper, I do feel like I had lost my identity in general. I really didn't know what was going on or who I was anymore. Adopting another name helped me open up an avenue to get back."

Though the band at times grew into an ensemble of more than ten people, Ebert began initial writing and recording completely alone, doing "the horn lines with [his] mouth or a kazoo on the demos" and "all the background vocals layering [him]self, pretending that there were people there." After meeting singer Jade Castrinos outside a Los Angeles cafe, Ebert and Castrinos started writing music together, and became a part of the art and music collective The Masses, which was partially started by some seed money from actor Heath Ledger. While the two had a romantic relationship that did not last, their fledgling group eventually swelled to more than 10 members, some of whom had been Alex's friends since he was young. In mid 2009, Ebert, Castrinos, and a group of musicians toured the country by bus as Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros. The first show they played in 2009 was at the Marfa Film Festival in Marfa, Texas. The band recorded their debut album, Up From Below, in Laurel Canyon. Produced by Aaron Older and Nico Aglietti, it was released on July 14, 2009. Up From Below is also the name of one of the songs in this album, in which Alex states "I was only five/when my dad told me I'd die/I cried as he said son/ was nothing could be done". Says Alexander, "My dad would be doing therapy in his office upstairs and I'd hear screamings, because they'd be role-playing and he'd be acting as his patient's father and they'd get upset and hit him and all this stuff. When he wasn't working, I'd go up there to draw and one day the music he was playing, Beethoven I think, delivered to me the idea of life and death. The information was bequeathed to me by the music. It was sonic and emotional. I tapped my dad on the shoulder and asked him if I was going to die and he said, 'Yeah.'"

On April 12, 2009, the band released "Desert Song", a music video and the first of a 12-part feature-length musical called SALVO!. Part 2, "Kisses Over Babylon", was released November 24, 2009 through Spinner.com. Part 3, "40 Day Dream", was uploaded to YouTube by the band on May 19, 2011.

Big Easy Express and second studio album (Here)

In April 2011, the band joined Mumford & Sons and Old Crow Medicine Show on the Railroad Revival Tour. According to American Songwriter, the tour stopped in six cities, playing alternative venues such as an Austin, Texas high school where Mumford & Sons taught the marching band how to play their hit "The Cave". The tour was also the subject of Grammy-nominated director Emmett Malloy's latest documentary Big Easy Express, which strove to capture "the pure joy of music" through Americana folk imagery. The documentary went on to win in the category for Best Long Form Music Video at the 2013 Grammy Awards. In 2011, Railroad Revival Tour bands Mumford & Sons, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, and Old Crow Medicine Show together closed their shows at every stop with "This Train".

The group's second album, Here, was released on May 29, 2012.

Third studio album (Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros)

The band's third studio and self-titled album, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, was released in 2013. This was followed by tours of North America, UK, Europe, and Australia which included headlining concert dates as well as major festivals. The band became known for taking people onstage with them, including a former patient they had previously met in a hospital performance, and a disabled man in a wheelchair.

Fourth studio album (PersonA)

The band's fourth studio album, PersonA, was released April 15, 2016 through Community Music. Recording the music almost entirely in one room together in New Orleans, their approach was a far cry from their ramshackle, come-one-come-all production audible on recordings of their previous albums.

In an in-depth interview with Transverso Media, Ebert explained his desire to evolve on PersonA, stating, "In a lot of ways this album does things that are missing." He went on to discuss why the name Edward Sharpe is crossed out on the cover, saying, "There was no character to begin with, so why not kill him? He never really was there. If anything, and at most, Edward Sharpe was a vehicle for me to get to slough off whatever I had become up until that point, and to get back to or sort of allow my pure self to come forth into sort of a clean slate."

Members

As of marketing on the band's Facebook page in 2013:

Additional, touring and/or recording personnel

As listed in the iTunes LP for the most recent album, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, 2013, or present tour:

Former personnel

In addition to Aglietti, Arntz and Embry:

Past touring/ additional personnel

EPs