The band formed in Salt Lake City intending to be an
indie rock band but, according to frontman Jon Parkin, that "lasted about half a practice". With this lineup, the band recorded their debut EP
East in 2004, which was distributed by Exigent Records. Nanes left the band after the EP release, and Chris Clement joined as bass player. In 2006, the band signed to label Black Market Activities, on which they have released ''
I Don't Care Where I Go When I Die''. Clement was unable to tour and turned bassist role fully over to
Bird Eater band mate Anthony Lucero, who retained the spot for the duration of the project. Gaza’s new permanent lineup recorded
He Is Never Coming Back. After the release of
He Is Never Coming Back, Sorenson left the band, leaving them as a four-piece group. The final lineup recorded
No Absolutes in Human Suffering. In late 2012, an unnamed woman alleged that a member of Gaza had raped her, later identifying the member as vocalist Jon Parkin. In January 2013, the band posted a statement denying the allegations and the matter was later resolved by the two parties. Despite resolving the issue, the band later announced that it would be breaking up, with the other members citing tension between them and Parkin. Bassist Anthony Lucero stated: It started to become really frustrating, and tours were getting cancelled, and all kinds of stuff was happening, so when that stupid, horrible shit blew up on the Internet, then it had reached the point where the three of us said that we'd had enough of this, it's done, and so we decided to actually kick Jon [Parkin] out of the band. Then we sat with Gaza for a while, trying to figure out what we were going to do, and eventually it felt like the only right thing to do was just start from scratch. In May 2013, Michael Mason, Casey Hansen and Anthony Lucero started a new band called
Cult Leader. ==Band members==