The Ropes are an indie rock band from New York City, composed of vocalist and bassist

Bassist

A bass player, or bassist is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass, bass guitar, keyboard bass or a low brass instrument such as a tuba or sousaphone. Different musical genres tend to be associated with one or more of these instruments...

 Sharon Shy and multi-instrumentalist

Multi-instrumentalist

A multi-instrumentalist is a musician who plays a number of different instruments.The Bachelor of Music degree usually requires a second instrument to be learned , but people who double on another instrument are not usually seen as multi-instrumentalists.-Classical music:Music written for Symphony...

 "Toppy".

Originally founded as a full band in 2005 they became a duo in early 2008, describing working with other band members as “a living hell.” They were signed to Warner/Rykodisc

Rykodisc

Rykodisc Records is an American record label. It is owned by Warner Music Group, operates as a unit of WMG's Independent Label Group and is distributed through Alternative Distribution Alliance.-Company history:...

 until 2007. The Ropes have toured throughout the US and UK, opening for acts such as The Used

The Used

The Used is an American rock band from Orem, Utah. The band was founded in 2001 and signed to Reprise Records the same year. They rose to fame in June 2002 after releasing their self-titled debut album. They followed up with their second album, In Love and Death, in September 2004 and their third...

, Innerpartysystem

InnerPartySystem

Innerpartysystem is an American electronic rock band. The group consists of Patrick Nissley, Jared Piccone and Kris Barman. The band is also well known for their live performance lighting largely by Andrew Nissley and videos directed by Stephen Penta....

, The Matches

The Matches

The Matches are a United States-based band formed in 1997 in Oakland, California. It currently is composed of vocalist and rhythm guitarist Shawn Harris, lead guitarist and backup vocalist Jonathan Devoto, bassist and backup vocalist Dylan Rowe, and drummer Matt Whalen...

, and The Bravery

The Bravery

The Bravery is an American rock band from New York City that consists of Sam Endicott , Michael Zakarin , John Conway , Mike Hindert , and Anthony Burulcich...

. Music critic Allan Raible chose What They Do For Fun as #15 on the ABC News

ABC News

ABC News is the news gathering and broadcasting division of American broadcast television network ABC, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company...

 50 Best Albums of 2008. They have been compared to The Cure

The Cure

The Cure are an English rock band formed in Crawley, West Sussex in 1976. The band has experienced several line-up changes, with frontman, vocalist, guitarist and principal songwriter Robert Smith being the only constant member...

, Interpol

Interpol

Interpol, whose full name is the International Criminal Police Organization – INTERPOL, is an organization facilitating international police cooperation...

, Garbage

Garbage (band)

Garbage are an alternative rock band formed in Madison, Wisconsin in 1994. The group consists of Scottish singer Shirley Manson and American musicians Duke Erikson , Steve Marker and Butch Vig . All four members are involved in songwriting and production...

, Poe, The Knife

The Knife

The Knife are a Swedish electronic music duo from Gothenburg, formed in 1999. The group consists of siblings Karin Dreijer Andersson and Olof Dreijer, who together also run their own record company, Rabid Records. They first received international attention after their song "Heartbeats", covered by...

, and the Velvet Underground, and they cite 1950s French New Wave

French New Wave

The New Wave was a blanket term coined by critics for a group of French filmmakers of the late 1950s and 1960s, influenced by Italian Neorealism and classical Hollywood cinema. Although never a formally organized movement, the New Wave filmmakers were linked by their self-conscious rejection of...

 as an influence.

The Ropes released an EP titled Cry to the Beat in early 2008, with drums produced by Blake Fleming from Mars Volta, and on May 6, 2008 released a full length album entitled What They Do For Fun, both produced by Nic Hard (The Bravery

The Bravery

The Bravery is an American rock band from New York City that consists of Sam Endicott , Michael Zakarin , John Conway , Mike Hindert , and Anthony Burulcich...

, The Church

The Church (band)

The Church is an Australian rock band formed in Sydney in 1980. Initially associated with new wave and the neo-psychedelic sound of the mid 1980s, their music later became more reminiscent of progressive rock, featuring long instrumental jams and complex guitar interplay...

) and Toppy. In March 2009, they released an EP

Extended play

An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...

 entitled Be My Gun along with a music video for the song of the same name, followed by another EP that August, Clubs in Europe Forever. They released the Love is a Chain Store and I Miss You Being Gone EPs in early 2010. The song "I Miss You Being Gone” was playlisted by Irish radio station Phantom 105.2, and "Love is a Chain Store" was playlisted by NME Radio in March 2010.

Discography

• Kill Her Off single - 2006
• Cry to the Beat EP - 2008
• What They do for Fun - May 2008
• Be My Gun EP - March 2009
• Clubs in Europe Forever EP - August 2009
• Love is a Chain Store EP - January 2010
• I Miss You Being Gone EP - February 2010