Relative started out in 1994 under the name "Toe Jam". The band was formed out of Brian and Josh's longtime friendship and love for music. They met up with Mike through Brian's brother Brad, Josh got a bass and they started playing together in Mike's basement. They wrote songs quickley and soon had enough for an album. Thanks to Paul Buddha, the Toe Jam demo tapes were born. Starting with the self titled (your name here) tape, Toe Jam showed diversity and promise. They were only 14 when the tape was recorded, and thus, it isn't great, but for 14 year olds, it's definitely good. The follow up was called "Ronald Reagan Eats the holes out of cheese." (originally a joke name for a song that died). This tape had all three members singing more songs and showed a more balanced view of the band.

Relative is located in Rochester, a small, conservative community in southeastern Minnesota. Relative was formed as a reaction to the social environment we were raised in and more importantly, it was formed of and for the love of music of three individuals. Three people with different pasts, different musical tastes, different aspirations, different subjective realities. Where these realities invade each other is where the band resides. We create our music as a group; it is a method by which we attempt to express ourselves. Our hopes, fears, frustrations, love and hatred are all represented here. Our goals are quite simple, to help ourselves understand and cope with our own realities more effectively, and thereby to help others do the same; to stay aware and to help others be aware of the world around us; and to try to communicate with ourselves, each other, our fans, our enemies, anyone who will listen, and especially the people who won't.