IV Four

IV. has been writing original songs since early 2002, when they came together under their original band name, Spill. The band was brought together as a result of several failed attempts at bands by the original members. These attempts included several line up and band name changes until the final lineup, consisting of Bobby Owensby (vocals, guitar), Heath Reid (guitar), Kevin Brown (bass), and Adam Flores (drums), was set and the name Spill was decided on.

Spill began to work on their own original sound by combining the influences of all of its members. Bobby brought a love of classic rock, grunge, and metal to the band while Kevin brought his love of progressive rock, grunge, and the blues. Heath Reid grew up listening to whatever was on the radio at the time, whether it was led zeppelin and lynyrd skynryd or deftones and system of a down. His wide variety of taste in music showed in his playing. Adam, the bands original drummer, brought the nu-metal flavor to the band. With all of these different influences and musical backgrounds, it was almost guaranteed that Spill was going to have their own sound. The question was, would that sound be accepted by the people that heard their music.

Spill played their first show at a party at the home of the band's guitarist, Heath Reid, and at this party the above question was answered. With a handful of original songs and a few cover songs the band managed to win over a lot of fans on their first attempt. The people described the band as new and exciting. They said that everyone was getting tired of the pissed off screams and the dumbed-down noise associated with several other local bands. Spill was a refreshing change and the people really seemed to like the band.
One of those people in attendance was John Prestipino, guitar player for N'west Indiana acoustic rock band, Quarterturn. John was impressed by the bands original material and by how much the band had achieved as songwriters in the two months since the band was formed. He offered the band the opportunity to play at their first real venue, The Muse Cafe, in Lansing, Il.

The band played their first show at The Muse Cafe on April 26th of 2002. The venue was full of people that didn't know what to expect from the band, whom many of the people in attendance had never heard. The fans however were not disappointed, and the band managed to win several new fans and a regular spot at The Muse Cafe. It was at that show that Spill made one of there most valuable contacts, Jim Lindsey from the Southside grunge band Immortality. This would prove to be a valuable relationship as Immortality would become mentors and friends for the fledgling Spill.

Two weeks after their first show at The Muse, Spill played their first ever battle of the bands at the Hammond Armory. On the first night of the ongoing battle of the bands, Spill tied for first with Oh So Eazy, a ska band from N'west Indiana. Not bad for the Spill's second real show ever. The band would later go on to win the Championship in the summer long battle of the bands sponsored by Beach House Music. They would take the prize money and use it to record there first E.P.

Spill recorded their first E.P. at Black Dog Studios in the fall of 2002. The four song c.d. included the tracks, "gone too far", "falling", "run away", and "control this". During the recording of these songs it came to the attention of the band that there were several other bands using the name Spill. After some research and a lot of heavy thinking it was decided that the bands name had to be changed. It was decided that the new band name would be IV. (pronounced four). In honor of the bands former name the newly recorded E.P. was titled The Spill E.P.
The name IV., pronounced "four", was decided on because the band wanted a simple name that represented the band. They didn't want their name to define them they wanted to define their name. IV. was simple, two letters and a period, and it represented the 4 piece band perfectly. It was simple, no frills, straight ahead, and it was the number 4 the same as the number of people in the band. The name change however was just the first change in store for the band.

A few months after the name change, Adam Flores (drums) left the band in order to seek out other outlets for his talent. The search was on for a new drummer and after several auditions a friend of the band, introduced them to A.J. Peck, a young drummer from Schererville, In. After one audition the 3 remaining band members were impressed enough to offer A.J. the job of playing drums for IV. A.J. accepted and the band was back to playing shows.

The new lineup was not to last though. After several successful shows A.J. Peck decided that he no longer wanted to be in a band. The band parted ways and the search was on again for a new drummer.

After a few auditions and one temporary drummer the band decided to let long time friend Mike Plantinga try out for the open drummer position.