Gila Bend formed in Downers Grove, IL in late1993 under the name Double Odd Buck.
Double Odd Buck was vocalist Robert Glen Fogarty (ex. Ivy League, Sleepy Bear, and Smug), guitarist Mike Hanyzewski (ex: Black Bear), bassist Eric Kmiec (ex: Trigwater), and drummer Tim Albert.

As Double Odd Buck, the band recorded a 4 song cassette for Liberty Park Recordings and played shows through 1994.

In December of 1994, due to the exit of Fogarty and a house fire that destroyed almost all of the band's equipment, Hanyzewski, Kmiec, and Albert formed Gila Bend with bassist / songwriter Basil Shadid. Kmiec switched to guitar.

The new band spent the first few months of 1995 writing new songs and went into Experimental Sound Studios with engineer / producer Jacob Ross on April 15th and 16th of that year to record several songs, four of which would be released. The instrumental "Smile" (Hanyzewski) and the songs "Keep Your Head Up" and "A Falling Star" (Shadid) would be released as a self-titled 7 inch record and "My Dream Locomotive" (Shadid) would be released on the "Emo Schmeemo" 7 inch compilation. Both records would be released on Liberty Park Recordings.

This line up of the band would play shows through the summer of 1995, some of which were recorded onto video and released on Nate Dykeman's MF entertainment featuring a show in a garage in Port Washington, Wisconsin during the Herbal Flesh Tea / Gila Bend summer mini, mini, mini tour. In the fall of 1995, partly inspired by Jack Kerouac, Basil Shadid left the band to hop freight trains across the country and briefly ended up in Texas. He would be replaced by bassist Amy Abramite (Mary's Window, Plastic Princess) for the remainder of the year until record contract obligations with Mary's Window would force her to also leave the band.

Bassist Fred Popolo (ex: Orwell and owner of Divot records) first saw Gila Bend play at the Fireside Bowl in Chicago and began attending their shows. His offer to the band to record a song for a CD / LP compilation that he was putting together coincided with Abramite leaving the band and in turn him joining on bass. The new line up returned to Experimental Sound Studios with Jacob Ross to record new songs. "Love Among Seahorse" (Hanyzewski) would be released on the "Ooh Do I Love You" compilation, which was on Braid's - the Core for Care label / foundation. "Gainer" (Hanyzewski) was released on the "Ground Rule Double" compilation (Divot records). The song was named after the skateboard trick of the same name. According to Popolo, Steve Albini, upon hearing the song while sequencing the compilation, jokingly said to his Shellac band mate, Bob Weston, "Hey Bob, we should start singing like this" in reference to Hanyzewski's barking dog vocal performance. "All Beliefs Will Go You'll See" (Gila Bend) was released by Polyvinyl records on the "direction" CD/ LP compilation.

The band continued to play shows through the beginning of 1996 and recorded one last time in March of 1996 with engineer Tom Zaluckyj (TAR) in Steve Albini's basement. Nothing from these sessions was ever "officially" released.

Gila Bend played its last show at an in-store at Naperville Record Swap in Naperville, IL in May of 1996.

Members:
Basil Shadid
Eric Kmiec
Fred Popolo
Mike Hanyzewski
Tim Albert