Robbers On High Street

Although childhood friends Ben Trokan and Steve Mercado both grew up in Poughkeepsie, New York, the pair only launched Robbers on High Street as a performing unit in 2002. Once Trokan finished high school and relocated to New York City, he began rehearsing with drummer Tomer Danan, while Mercado remained upstate and started playing with bassist Jeremy Phillips. The quartet eventually converged in N.Y.C. and formally established the band. Their first recording, the EP Fine Lines, appeared on Scratchie/New Lines in 2004; the following year they delivered the full-length Tree City, an album that drew parallels to Spoon and fellow New Yorkers the Strokes. By autumn 2006 the lineup had shifted to Trokan, Mercado, and Morgan King, who issued a five-song, internet-only EP. The release featured two tracks slated for the forthcoming 2007 album Grand Animals, two additional numbers tracked during the Tree City sessions, and a version of Paul McCartney’s “Monkberry Moon Delight.”