Benton Falls was a rock band from Santa Rosa, California, which originally formed in 2000. The trio formerly consisted of Michael Richardson, Vance Gore, and Eli Deering, with second guitarist Gerb leaving after the release of Fighting Starlight. The band's music was influenced by such bands as Sunny Day Real Estate, Braid, and Jawbox. They first appeared on the compilation The Silence In My Heart: The Emo Diaries Chapter Six and released their first full-length album, Fighting Starlight, less than a month later on Deep Elm Records. In the winter of 2000 the band went back into the recording studio to work on their follow-up album Guilt Beats Hate, which was released in the spring of 2003.