All the founding band members were born in 1979; Brett Anderson (vocals) on May 30; Allison Robertson (guitar and vocals) on August 26; and Maya Ford (bass guitar and vocals) and Torry Castellano (drums, percussion, vocals), both on January 8. They all became friends by eighth grade and formed as a band in May 1993 to play for their school's "Day on the Green." One of two all-female bands in their town Palo Alto, California, they were relatively unknown until they were out of high school. They are all self-taught musicians and practiced in Castellano's garage nearly every day during their years at Palo Alto High School. They called themselves "Ragady Anne" in their early days and shortly thereafter changed their name to "The Electrocutes".