David Vandervelde started making music by playing guitar in a Michigan-based hardcore metal band called Fable (Derek James, Jonathan Kleyn) at the age of 14. Fable recorded 2 records ("Give Us the Night" and a split with Mara Akate) between 1998 and 2000. Soon after David's parents helped him buy some minimal recording equipment and he started recording acoustic music at home while attending Holland Christian High School in Holland, Michigan. His first official release was "Like Judas" appearing as track 1 on the third "Unsigned Bands" sampler by Velvet Blue Music. During this time David also recorded the first demos for Entrance in his parent's basement. These demos lead to Guy Blakeslee's (Entrance) first release on Tiger Style Records.