Alternative Rock / Indie Rock
Birmingham, Alabama, USA / Orange County, California, USA

Heather Bray started a band called Marvel in Birmingham, Alabama with her boyfriend at the time. The name came from a scripture verse, but they ran into various troubles because of Marvel Comics. Heather mentioned on a Velvet Blue Music podcast that the band had recorded an EP. Two of their songs were featured on an M&M Records compilation called Thirty-One Flavors. The band was in talks with Rescue Records at one point, but their main band P.O.D. signed with Atlantic Records and Rescue Records closed up right after that.

Heather moved back to Orange County in 2000 and met Ben Heywood of Remember August. Because Remember August was opening for bands like Starflyer 59, the two quickly became friends. They started dating and Ben became the drummer for her music project at the time. In 2002 they formed Summer Darling, and in 2005 they got married.

Ben knew Jeff Cloud and Josh Dooley through his connections with Starflyer 59. When Dooley heard Heather singing in Summer Darling and wanted her to join MAP, and she said she would only if she could play guitar. She was a member of MAP for Think Like an Owner (2004), even co-writing one song for this EP.

In the early 2000s, Heather formed a band with her friend Beth Penn called Kissing Cousins. Like MAP, Kissing Cousins was a rotating collaboration between Heather and several friends. Her husband Ben often played drums for the band's concerts and albums, sometimes with a wig on to keep up the appearance of an “all girl” band.

Since Kissing Cousins broke up in 2015, Heather founded the record label Chain Letter Collective (with Ben and Rose Campbell) and also recorded an album as Viscous Cousins (with former Kissing Cousins' member Amanda Siara).

• The Chain Letter Collective
• Velvet blue Podcast: Heather Heywood of Kissing Cousins, MAP, Vicious Cousins
• A Brief History of Summer Darling, and Why You Should Check Out Their Forthcoming Reissues