Brian Penkrot, Jason Palamara, and Justin K Comer met in the early 2010s while pursuing graduate degrees in composition at the University of Iowa. Jason and Justin began playing together to accompany dancers, and eventually founded the duo JCϟjp. The duo lost some steam when Jason moved to Indiana, but in 2019, Brian breathed new life into the project by inviting Jason and Justin to Chicago (a middle ground) to record new material. The trio BCJsPs (“bee-see-jays-peas”) was born.