The Living Things took root in the early 2000s, pairing punky songcraft with a fiercely political edge. The band's most outspoken figure was frontman Lillian Berlin, who grew up in the suburbs of St. Louis alongside his brothers (and future bandmates) Eve and Bosh Berlin. Although all three of the Berlin siblings had trouble fitting in, Lillian experienced the most difficulty, eschewing the typical activities of a teenager for an interest in literature (chiefly the works of Jack Kerouac, Jim Carroll, and Sylvia Plath) and music. He picked up the guitar at an early age, and his younger brothers learned the bass and drums, respectively.