Funeral Party is a 4-piece American band made up of Chad Elliot, James Lawrence Torres, and Kimo Kauhola. They formed the band one night in a park in their hometown of Whittier, California, a suburb just outside Los Angeles, California, choosing to name themselves after The Cure song of the same name. The band became their ticket out of Whittier: "We all came from the same shitty town, and you have two choices: grow up and get a job or get out. That's what we tried to do with the band..."

Funeral Party tirelessly performed every weekend at backyard parties and warehouses in the Los Angeles area. One show they played in a gang-affiliated location involved somebody in the crowd being stabbed while they performed "New York City Moves to the Sound of L.A.". Initially they didn't own any musical equipment of their own and had to borrow it from the bands they performed with. After seeing a performance, Lars Stalfors, an engineer and producer with The Mars Volta at the time, invited the band to record. The recording sessions took place during The Mars Volta's off hours, and yielded the song "Chalice."