After Benton Schoenrock drunkenly suggested that his friends start a band with him in 2012, guitarist Alex Nickeson set the challenge that if Schoenrock bought a drum kit, he would find them a rehearsal space. A mere 24 hours later and the pair were nursing their hangovers whilst setting up a brand new drum kit in a freshly rented storage locker in their hometown of Des Moines, IA.

The pair soon recruited mutual friend Andrew Pierson to play bass, and after someone attempted to run a birthday ad for a dog named Tommy in the newspaper the trio worked for, Pets With Human Names was founded.