Nautical Almanac was formed in 1994 by Nate Young and James Twig Harper in Michigan. It started as a rogue 'crash and smash' terror band, playing anywhere possible using confrontational social musical tactics. It quickly reformed into a 3 piece adding percussion member Sol Meltzer, under this new line up the band fell under the guide lines of rock. Being more accessible in form the ideas had to be pushed further so the focus of the band was on creating garbaged homemade instruments: Springs, clings, gutted electronics, metal, etc.
In 1997 Twig Harper was forced to leave Michigan and go underground avoiding the police and FBI for an anti-police action (all charges were dropped). Harper ended up in Chicago with Carly Ptak, instead of tossing in the N/A gloves Ptak+Harper decided to hijack the Almanac and ride it to its deserved glory. Refocusing in even further on the electronics tip they worked endless hours rewiring and building gear, playing the sporadic shows here and there in Chicago. In 1997 they opened up the Mystery Spot, an infamous junk store to finance their life. Everything went fine until they became disgusted with the gentrification of the neighborhood and had the urges to dedicate more of their life to immaterial objects. Packing up they left Chicago in 2001 and ended up in Baltimore to buy a cheap abandoned styled building. Thru the renovations Ptak + Harper started hosting live shows in their attic dubbed Tarantula Hill, and started a record label HERESEE.