Members: Daniel Rossen and Fred Nicolaus

What started as a joke between New York University roommates became sample-based Whitey On The Moon UK, then grew into the more instrumental sound of Department Of Eagles.

As freshmen, Daniel and Fred were assigned to be roommates. Instead of spending as much time on school or social activities, they opted to play with pirated sound editing software to create a fun sample-heavy beat-driven CD for friends in their dorm. They called themselves Whitey On The Moon, selecting the personal pseudonyms Iron Chrysalis and Butterfly Emerging. Unintentionally, a copy of the project was given to friend-of-a-friend Joseph Finlaw, who was at the time starting Isota Records. He wanted to put some of the tracks on a 7 single. For those releases, the name was changed to Whitey on the Moon UK partially as a joke and partially to avoid conflict with another band that had already laid claim to Whitey on the Moon.

Whitey On The Moon UK was the only group to release two 7s for now-defunct Isota Record's Singles Club. Afterwords, the duo changed their name to Department Of Eagles, as the other Whitey On The Moon wasn't satisfied that the addition of UK differentiated the bands enough.