The band met and formed while studying art at East Carolina University in Greenville. Their first band was Art Lord & the Self-Portraits, which included Samuel T. Herring, William Cashion, Gerrit Welmers, Adam Beeby, and Kymia Nawabi. That band lasted from February 2003 until fall of 2005. In 2006, Cashion, Herring, and Welmers formed Future Islands with Erick Murillo, who played an electronic drum kit.