Zach Shields and Oscar-nominated actor Ryan Gosling decided to start a band when they discovered a mutual obsession with the supernatural and scary movie ingredients like monsters, graveyards and zombies. Growing up, Zach was so fascinated with ghosts that he was put into therapy, and Ryan's parents moved out of his childhood home because it was haunted. 

They knew from the start that they wanted to work kids into their music and collaborated on their first album with the L.A.'s Silverlake Conservatory Childrens Choir, co-founded by Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. The children's earnest and imaginative perspective on music seemed to resonate with their own musical evolution. 

Akin to Dogma 95, Dead Man's Bones made rules for the recording process to make sure that the whole creative process, including their mistakes, were integrated into the music. The intent was to keep focus on a way to feature their faults by framing them with their strengths. Also incorporated into the project was stereotyped scary sounds such as creaking doors, screaming, crying and werewolf howling. 

Together with the producer Tim Anderson, they play all the instruments themselves even if they had never touched them before and the label Werewolf Heart Records was formed to stay true to the idea of doing everything themselves. 

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