Founded by D.C. post-hardcore veteran musician and widely respected recording engineer J. Robbins, the Office of Future Plans also features bassist Brooks Harlan, cellist and guitarist Gordon Withers, and drummer Darren Zentek. Robbins' background includes Government Issue, Jawbox, Burning Airlines, Channels, and Report Suspicious Activity -- the latter two with Zentek -- among many shorter-lived bands. Harlan, also an engineer, played with Avec and War on Women. Withers, of BELLS= and the Pauses, is known for having released an album of cello-only Jawbox covers as a benefit for Robbins' son, who had been diagnosed with severe spinal muscular atrophy.

The band formed in 2009, when Robbins was asked by the Bomb to open for them in D.C. Robbins obliged and assembled his support with one-night-only intent. The event developed into a full-blown band that wrote, rehearsed, and recorded at Robbins' Magpie Cage studio. They made their debut in 2011 with a crowd-funded 7" single that consisted of "Harden Your Heart" and a cover of the Stranglers' "Everybody Loves You When You're Dead." A self-titled album for Dischord was out by the end of the year. Since then, the band record and perform in a sporadic fashion, as the members' schedules allowed. A split single with Daria was released in 2013. ~ Andy Kellman, Rovi