Blackbird Raum formed out of the nucleus of a squatter community living in abandoned buildings and greenbelt treehouses in Santa Cruz, CA, in 2004. Finding themselves living without electricity, they began to learn to play folk instruments from each other and other members of the train hopping, squat culture. The band had played in anarcho-punk, indie, metal, and ska bands and then, learning traditional music from jams, contradances and festivals, made based somewhere right in the middle of punk, metal and folk.