In 1998, drummer Vito Roccoforte and guitarist/vocalist Luke Jenner formed the Rapture. They were childhood friends from a San Diego suburb who started playing music together, and when Roccoforte moved to San Francisco for college, Jenner followed him and they started playing more, which would lead to forming the Rapture. Roccoforte was an aspiring filmmaker, but became a drummer at Jenner's insistence. According to Jenner in 2018, "In college, he got really good grades and had all of these ambitions to be a filmmaker. I kind of railroaded him into the Rapture. He didn’t really want to be a drummer, but I needed somebody I could trust who was never going to leave my side. And he agreed; it’s not like I forced him into it. I asked him humbly and he accepted." They released a single, "The Chair That Squeaks", on Hymnal Sound that same year. After heavy touring, they released a debut mini-album, "Mirror", on Gravity Records in 1999.