Bearback is the twisted collaboration of Philadelphia native turned Berliner Jay Haze and Zurich's Samim. The duo met and quickly clicked in 1999 near the idyllic setting of Lake Zurich, each with a successful background in electronic music production. Samim consequently released several EP's on Jay's Tuning Spork club imprint with production partner Michal, while Jay continued unrelenting and diverse output on his Contexterrior, Tuning Spork, Textone, and Future Dub labels. Later their friendship developed into laid-back musical collaboration resulting in the first Bearback release on Tuning Spork Family Affair, a sub-label dedicated to Tuning Spork artist collaborations, early in 2005. This single release sparked intense interest from all sides of the music spectrum taking them both by surprise and moving them to expand on the project.