Before Rainer Maria were a band, they were all part of a booking collective, bringing punk and indie rock bands from around the world to their college town of Madison, Wisconsin, in the mid-1990s. Kaia Fischer and William Kuehn had played music together before, but when they added Caithlin De Marrais to the mix, the trio took off. Together, they spun raw and tumultuous emotion into driving rock music, with literary and philosophical interests and influences that endeared them to many also searching through the underground for their place in the world.

Over the course of several full-length albums and EPs, paired with an ambitious amount of time spent in DIY spaces, basement shows, and rock clubs throughout the US, Rainer Maria cemented themselves as an early cornerstone for Polyvinyl, and as ambassadors of the Midwest indie rock scene now so revered by later day musicians and fans.