The Brakes formed when Billy Cioffi met William “Mickey” McGee in late spring of 2002. Cioffi had just relocated to Scottsdale after being based for many years in Los Angles and met McGee on a casual gig. McGee, who was raised in the Phoenix area but spent extensive time in Los Angeles during his prolific career, and Cioffi immediately hit it off and began the “do you know?” game. It wasn’t long before the two were writing songs and recording them with another Phoenix musician: