3 childhood friends from the quiet town of Winona, MN who met in karate class formed a band in 1995 and soon started playing ska and punk music after being heavily influenced by bands like Sublime, Goldfinger, Operation Ivy, Less Than Jake, Rancid and NOFX. Midriff often sings about corruption and the corporate media machine. The bands name, "Midriff", is inspired from a PBS documentary called "Merchants of Cool" which defines "The Midriff" as a caricature created by the media machine: the teenage female who is prematurely adult, consumed by her appearance, flaunting her sexuality before she is old enough to understand it, all repackaged as a new kind of female empowerment. Midriff is a complete D.I.Y. band doing everything themselves including their own recording, mixing, artwork, website design, etc... Recording of the album "Merchants of Cool" began in 2001 at Hennepin Technical College in Eden Prairie, MN where Chad and Johnnie were going to school for audio recording. All of the drums and most of the bass were tracked there but the recordings were forgot about only to be rediscovered in late 2008. The rest of the tracks were recorded and the entire album was mixed and mastered in their bedroom completely "in the box" in a home Pro Tools rig on Mac G4. All of Midriff's music is FREE to download.