Portland punk-pop quartet Wolf Colonel began on the campus of Lewis and Clark College in the fall of 1996 as the solo acoustic project of singer/guitarist Jason Anderson; inspired by a recent Elliott Smith gig, he began regularly performing around campus, even hosting a number of early dates in his dorm room. While at a Halo Benders date, Anderson met K Records honcho Calvin Johnson, to whom he began sending self-released cassettes like Sex Riot and This Is Compton; upon adding bass and drums to the recordings, Johnson finally agreed to record a session at his Dub Narcotic studio, resulting in the early 1999 release of Wolf Colonel's self-titled debut EP. For a subsequent spring tour, Anderson recruited rhythm guitarist Jake Longstreth, bassist Ryan Wise and drummer Adam Forkner; the full length Vikings of Mint followed in early 2000 and Castle was issued later that fall. ~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi