Emo/pop-punk band Cartel was formed in Conyers, Georgia in 2003. The band is made up of friends that met one another while all of them were attending high school that debuted in Atlanta playing in small gigs with a lineup including Will Pugh, Joseph Peppers, Nic Hudson, Ryan Roberts, and Kevin Sanders.
The band released an initial demo that received attention on Militia Group, a California-based records label. Early 2004 Militia Records released Cartel's Ransom EP, and one year later, in September 2005, the band's full-length debut album "Chroma" with immediate success.
Next year, the band was voted on the Alternative Press's 2005 list of "Bands You Need to Know", and Yahoo Music named Cartel as winner in the "Who's Next" competition and AOL music a Breaker artist band.
The album "Chroma" climbed the Top 200 on the Billboard chart, at the time that the single "Honestly" was released as a video that caught some airtime on MTV.
In early 2006, Cartel moved from Militia Group Records to Epic Records, not such a big deal since both labels are a division of Sony BMG Music Entertainment, but an effective way to raise the band's profile.
Cartel toured exhaustively throughout 2006 suffering the first change in their lineup when Ryan Roberts left the band and was replaced with Jeff Lett, in time to start their Warped Tour dates.
The band’s breakthrough into the mainstream came on May 24 2007, when Cartel was invited to participate on MTV's mini series "Band in a Bubble" consisting of four parts, in which each of Cartel's member had to write, record, and produce a full-length album within 20 days living inside the bubble.
This reality show was aired to fans that were able to watch the band 24 hours a day through 23 cameras placed strategically inside the bubble. On the due date (June 12, 2007), Cartel left the bubble and performed live their new self-titled album that peaked number 20 on the US Charts.
A song from this album, "Lose it", was released that same day, and it was available for download as digital media at Napster and iTunes, because the traditional record was not available in stores until August 21, 2007.
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