2015–2018: Formation and self-titled EP Brady and Les, who lived just miles apart in the
St. Louis area (
Kirkwood and
Webster Groves, respectively), first met during high school at a
rodeo. However, they first had the idea to collaborate after meeting again at a house party in 2012. In the winter of 2015, Les and Brady first produced music together, recording in Laura's Chicago apartment
2019–2020: 1000 gecs and 1000 gecs and the Tree of Clues Despite plans to record more music, they were unable to find enough time until they performed a "breakout" DJ set together for the 2019
Minecraft Fire Festival. later that year, In November 2019, the duo appeared on the
Adult Swim web series
FishCenter Live and performed the songs "800db Cloud" and "Stupid Horse" in front of a
green screen backdrop of an aquarium. 100 gecs were named an "Artist You Need to Know" by
Rolling Stone in 2019.
New York Times music critic
Jon Caramanica called
1000 gecs the best album of 2019, and it was rated among the best albums of the year by
Crack Magazine,
Noisey,
Paper,
Pitchfork, and
Stereogum. Towards the end of 2019, Brady announced a
remix album by the duo tentatively titled
1000 gecs & th3 phant0m m3nac3 and set to feature artists including
A. G. Cook. The album was later retitled
1000 gecs and the Tree of Clues, which Les referred to as "a companion to the original".
Tree of Clues was released on July 10, 2020. Several singles were released prior to the album. A. G. Cook's remix of "Money Machine" was released in October 2019, followed by
Injury Reserve's remix of "745 Sticky" in November 2019. "
Ringtone (remix)", featuring
Charli XCX,
Rico Nasty, and
Kero Kero Bonito, was released in February 2020. 100 gecs signed with
Atlantic Records in 2020. Brady told
NME they are "trying to be really big—trying to be as big as
Ed Sheeran", while Les said that Atlantic was a "good fit ... [t]here's so many things that they could help us accomplish". Before the
COVID-19 pandemic, they were scheduled to perform at
Coachella in April 2020. In August 2020, it was announced that 100 gecs would perform at the
Reading and Leeds Festivals in August 2021. On November 15, 2020, they released the stand-alone single "Lonely Machines" with American band
3OH!3. They followed this up with the Christmas song "Sympathy 4 the Grinch". Brady produced several tracks for Rico Nasty in 2020, for example the August release "
iPhone" and the November release "OHFR?", both of which were singles from her debut album
Nightmare Vacation (2020). The production of two other tracks on the album were also credited to both Brady and Les, collectively under "100 gecs".
2021–present: 10,000 gecs 2022 In early 2021, the group released a remix of
Linkin Park's "
One Step Closer" to commemorate the 20th anniversary of Linkin Park's debut studio album,
Hybrid Theory. Afterward, they embarked on independent projects, with Les releasing her debut solo single "
Haunted" in March, and Brady releasing the debut album of his band
Cake Pop,
Cake Pop 2, in April. In July 2021, the duo announced the 10000 gecs Tour, with shows in North America set to take place from October to December. Supporting acts included Tony Velour,
Underscores, and Alice Gas. Four days into the tour, more dates were announced for the Europe 2022 leg of the 10000 gecs Tour, originally set to start in
Moscow in January, and closing out in
London in February, but these were delayed until August and September. Several 2022 music festival lineups with 100 gecs were announced in late 2021 and 2022, such as
BUKU, set to take place in
New Orleans in March; Ceremonia in
Mexico City in April;
Coachella in
Indio, California in April;
Forecastle in
Louisville in May;
Governors Ball in
Queens, New York in June (after pulling out of the festival the previous year);
Bonnaroo in
Manchester, Tennessee in June, and
Lollapalooza, Chicago in August. They kicked off their Europe tour with a concert at
Vega, Copenhagen on August 11, 2022, and closed it out at
SWG3 in Glasgow on September 5. According to
Pitchfork's Steven Horowitz, the album is more mainstream and "mature" in its sound than their previous works, and would feature songs where Les is heard without the duo's trademark autotune. The North American leg of the 10000 gecs Tour started on October 8 at the
Fox Theater in
Oakland, California, On November 19, 100 gecs released the first single off the album, "mememe", during their tour, with an accompanying
kaleidoscopic music video featuring the pair dancing in wizard robes. These robes were created by Elly Golterman and worn during their tours in 2021 and 2022. On April 12, 2022, 100 gecs released "Doritos & Fritos" as the second single for
10,000 gecs, along with an accompanying visualizer. The song marks a deviation from their established sound, carrying more characteristics of
alt-rock than hyperpop. A music video for the track was released on May 16, 2022, featuring the duo flying around a desert while the news reports on their actions, as well as a cameo from a
Danny Devito impersonator. On December 2, 2022, 100 gecs released their second EP,
Snake Eyes, along with an accompanying visualizer on the track "Torture Me" featuring
Skrillex. They also announced that
10,000 gecs would be released on March 17, 2023. They released the song "
Hollywood Baby" on February 16, 2023, alongside a music video, as the third single from the album, which they also revealed a tracklist for on the same day. In January 2023, 100 gecs announced the 10000 gecs Tour 2, with North American dates from January to May, featuring
Machine Girl as an opening act. After numerous delays,
10,000 gecs was released on March 17, 2023, alongside the music video for the album's final single "Dumbest Girl Alive", to positive reviews. Julianne Escobedo Shepherd of
Pitchfork describes the project as "a reevaluation of the most declassé and dunderheaded rock genres that roiled the 2000s", most notably with singles like "Doritos & Fritos" and "Hollywood Baby". Mosi Reeves of
Rolling Stone comments that the project shows that "100 gecs haven't lost their sense of joy, even as they codify their innovations into something resembling normality." On February 15, 2024, 100 gecs announced that
Snake Eyes would be pressed onto a
picture disc, to celebrate
Record Store Day. The picture disc was released on April 20, 2024. ==Fandom==