Sam McPheeters was born in Ohio and raised in upstate New York. In 1981, at age 12, he co-authored Travelers Tales; Rumors and Legends of the Albany-Saratoga Region. Starting in 1989, he sang for Born Against, Men’s Recovery Project, and Wrangler Brutes, touring seventeen times across North America, Europe, and Japan. Since 2009, he has written for Apology, Chicago Reader, Criterion, Vice, and The Village Voice, among others.