Bio: "We love melodies and lyrics," says Derek Ingersoll, lead singer of Chicago-based Absentstar. "We're not that interested in gimmicks." The band's roots extend back to 1999, when Ingersoll, guitarist Andy Dixon and drummer Heath Hamilton moved from their native Indiana to Chicago, where the three figured they stood a better chance of finding an audience for their music. They found more than that: The Windy City also gave them guitarist-keyboardist Marshall Hanbury Jr. and bassist Noel Arnim, who completed the band's lineup in 2005 and, says Ingersoll, finally helped realize the music that they had been hearing in their heads for nearly a decade. The fivesome have spent the last two years writing songs , which culminated in the recording and release of Sea Trials on Columbia Records in 2008.