Michael Cepress was born and raised in Wausau, Wisconsin, and according to his mother "was born with a red crayon in his hand." By age 8 he was a card-carrying member of the Roy Orbison Fan Club, endlessly obsessed with style, and had his bedroom walls plastered with ephemera from every exciting corner of American pop-culture and he could find.

By age 15 he was performing in bars as the front-man of various rock 'n' roll bands in the midwest, and by 20 his group The...