Spys4Darwin produced only a single album, a six-track
EP entitled
Microfish, which consisted of one week's worth of recorded sessions. While all band members contributed to the songs, much of the compositions were developed by DeGarmo and Kinney communicating back and forth while the lyrics were handled by Dombroski. "Dashboard Jesus (Follow)" was the first single that was released from the EP. In an interview, DeGarmo cited hopes to release a full-length album of about a dozen tracks in early 2002. The band was also reportedly working on the album as late as February 12 that year. However, a second album would ultimately not come to fruition.
Microfish consists of recordings from Binge Studios which were refined at
Chris DeGarmo and
Sean Kinney's houses before being mixed by
Adam Kasper at Studio X. Spys4Darwin released the EP on their own record label, Pied Viper Records. Originally only available through the band's official website,
Microfish was promoted through the band itself and a modest
grassroots approach. According to DeGarmo, regarding the band's approach to
Microfish: "It was really just us getting together, us recording, us taking it into mix with friends, and us releasing it directly to those people that are interested in it, with kind of very little fanfare... This was about us trying to make the recording as we could in our studio and make a nice package that was more about bein' proud of somethin' that we put out as opposed to whether or not it competes with
Creed." The group recruited
Void guitarist Bubba Dupree and performed one gig at
KNDD's
Endfest 10 on August 4, 2001. The performance was documented in Hi-8mm b/w by former
Nirvana bassist
Krist Novoselic (who also reportedly drove the band's bus) for possible streaming on the band's official website. Other groups that performed at the festival include
The Living End,
Sum 41,
Nickelback,
Ours,
The Offspring,
Cake, and
The Crystal Method.
Reception Critic Malcolm Dome of
Classic Rock gave the album a positive review, calling it "pretty seamless and thoroughly entertaining": :"Don't expect a sound that's a hybrid of their alma matas; Spys4Darwin have their own ideas. A familiar blend that encompasses contemporary American rock (think
Matchbox Twenty,
Train etc) that then takes a left-field twist to pick up traces of bands like
Faith No More and
Pearl Jam. Infused with sensible melodies and clear-cut arrangements, it's classic rock for a modern audience. :The best track of the six on this minialbum is undoubtedly 'Dashboard Jesus (Follow)', a masterpiece with dense atmospherics, a spiky attitude and a nice sense of the epic, although the rest of the material hardly slouches in comparison. :Which all goes to suggest that 'Spys4Darwin' isn't just a collection of stars idling away their time, but a bona fide band with a future."
Track listing ==Post-Spys4Darwin==