In the summer of 2005, after a series of deaths in the family, Michael Deni left his hometown in New Jersey for San Francisco. He spent the next several months with a synthesizer he found on the street, turning that tragedy into the songs that would become the foundation for Geographer. Deni played his first shows by lying to promoters about how many people he could bring, handing out fliers by hand, and doing anything he could to get on stage. Cut to 6 years later, and he had sold out the legendary Filmore in San Francisco, headlined the 2300 seat Fox Theater in Oakland, and sold out shows all across the country on tour.