The Kickback is comprised of brothers Billy and Danny Yost, guitarist Tyler Zee, and bassist Eamonn Donnelly. Following the brothers’ emigration from rural South Dakota to Chicago in late 2009, the group received acclaim from Rolling Stone’s Hype Monitor, Sound Opinion’s Jim Derogatis, numerous blogs including You Ain’t No Picasso, and the Chicago Sun Times for their 2010 and 2011 EP releases, Great Self Love and Mea Culpa Mea Culpa, respectively.

The group is currently writing and recording what will mark their first full-length release. A task that will be tracked and mixed by the Yost brothers, the record has been pledged to be a rawer yet more musically ambitious effort than the group’s two EPs. Influences for the project include the recent addition of Donnelly on bass and vocals, David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest, the dissolution of the Yost brothers parents' marriage, an intense and occasionally all-consuming fear of death, and the sunny and smiling sounds of mid-to-late 1960s Top 40 radio, including Zee's insatiable appetite for all-things-Roy Orbison. The new year saw the introduction of the band's own weekly podcast, Diary of a Disas-tour, as well as a healthy bout of nation-wide touring. 2011 also marked the band's first appearance at the SXSW Music Festival in Austin, TX, a headlining slot on the premier Midwest festival, Saturday in the Park, and an increasingly difficult time getting off work without getting fired.