San Francisco brings something out of people, something beautiful. And somewhere between the early hours at their hole-in-the-wall cafe jobs, and the late night deliveries from Mr. Pizza Man, The Instant Messengerscrafted their first full-length album, "Kill the Image". It was the longest, most hair-pulling, argument-filled, musical extravaganza they had ever embarked on. And it would take them two years to release it. Before they had even finished writing all the songs for the album, they were joined by what you could call a fifth member, who knew a few folks, and had some good ideas. This cat hooked them up with a showcase at Dim Mak Records, they had 15 minutes. After three songs performed in the living room of the record label's house/office, in front of owner Steve Aoki, photographer Mark the Cobrasnake, and various others, The Instant Messengers were applauded and sent on their way. Later they would find out that Dim Mak records' opinion was that they were "too emo". Fucking hilarious! I don't think they cared much about being "too emo", we could all use some heart over our break beats. The fifth member was working as a manager, and had a hook with The Living Legends. They put together a sampler composed of old shit and solo shit, gave it to The Grouch, who probably didn't think it was all that great, but hooked them up with some shows anyways.

After having their car stolen in Las Vegas from the parking lot of a convention center where they were promoting the release of their album and selling their merchandise, the boys took a GreyHound home. But it didn't stop their drive. Literally, they borrowed a two door Honda Civic DX (which means it's like the worst version of that model made), and five of them packed in it and drove 22 hours to Colorado... to play two shows with The Living Legends... for free. I don't care who you are, if you could even dream of rocking crowds as hard as these boys did, you would take notice... And The Grouch did. They opened up for The Legends at The Abbey Theater in Durango, and at The Fox Theater in Boulder, in front of two sold out crowds who had no idea who the The Instant Messengers were. By the end of the night, show-goers walked home wearing a limited edition "Kill the Image" hoodie they had bought for 60 bucks a pop.