Reminiscent of such ground breaking bands as The Pixies and Sonic Youth, Pagoda has already captured the ears of many alternative rock fans. The band was formed in 2001 by Michael Pitt (The Dreamers, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Bully) and Ryan Donowho (TV's The O.C., Imaginary Heroes) and quickly developed an underground following that is growing at a quick rate.

Michael Pitt started playing guitar when he was 18 and taught himself about notes and chord progressions. "I just figured it out myself," he says. "I couldn't read music or anything." One of the first songs he wrote was "Death to Birth" which has since become Pagoda's most recognized song. Ryan Donowho, on the other hand, was a well known bucket drummer in New York City when he was discovered by a casting agent looking for someone to model Levi 501's in an ad campaign. The band has went through many bassists, one of them being Aloke member Christian Zucconi who filmed a video for Pagoda's song "The Happy Song."

Audiences got their first taste of Mike's musical ability on a collaboration with The Twins of Evil for Bernardo Bertolucci's film "The Dreamers." He recorded a cover of Jimi Hendrix's classic "Hey Joe" for the soundtrack and a video directed by Bertolucci was featured on the DVD release. Shortly thereafter, Pagoda contributed the song "Muskrat" to the film adaptation of JT LeRoy's novel "The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things." Mike also had a short role in the film as "Buddy", an absent minded but good intentioned southerner.

While Mike was in Portland researching the west coast music scene for his role in Gus Van Sant's "Last Days", he ran into Jamie Kallend of the band Kallisti strumming his guitar in the park. Mike asked if he could play, and Kallend was so impressed that he invited him to play an open mic night that very day. After the show, Mike recorded some of Kallisti's songs on a recorder he had been traveling with and mixed them that same night. As fate would have it, the two ran into each other again a few months later while Mike was back in town visiting Gus. A few weeks later, Kallend was offered the position as bassist and accepted.

The band posted an online flyer looking for a cellist and got minimal replies. One of them was from Indigo Ruth Davis, a teenaged cellist from Vermont who attends a Waldorf school that focuses on artistic pursuits and the uniqueness of the individual. The band gave him "Sadartha" to noodle around over and convinced them of his talents on the first run through. "He adds his own parts in his own way instead of playing some sheet music he's been given," Kallend says. "He wasn't playing cello like a classically trained player, he recognized the experimental nature of our stuff and played along more like Hendrix or something."

Pagoda recorded their five song demo at Excello Recording Studio in Williamsburg Brooklyn. It had a limited pressing and was given away for free by Mike's agent at shows. Along with "Death to Birth" and "Sadartha", the demo featured "Fetus" and "I Do" along with an experimental spoken word track titled "Song 1." Those who attended Pagoda's earlier shows instantly recognized the new tracks as more focused and better crafted than previous material. Gus Van Sant also took notice to the progression and featured two songs from the demo on the soundtrack to "Last Days."

"Last Days" is inspired by the death of Nirvana front man Kurt Cobain. Mike plays "Blake", an introspective artist who is battling a drug addiction on top of increasing depression caused by the pressures of stardom. In one particular scene, Blake retreats from the party his friends are throwing in his living room and plays a solo acoustic version of "Death to Birth." While this is one of the most powerful scenes in the film, Mike was apprehensive about contributing his own material. "I'm a musician and I didn't want it to just seem like I was doing it for personal gain," he says. "I think we shot the scene about seven times and every time I made up a song on the spot. The last time he asked me to play that song." Mike also contributed the song "That Day" to the film, on which he played every instrument. The video for "The Happy Song" was also featured on the DVD release.

While the band was in Milan, they recorded their full length album "House of Worship" with Luca Amendolara. "We have almost 40 songs recorded," says Kallend. "There's a song called 'Gulp' which I think is really pretty and allows me to do some intricate melody work, and another called 'Never Was' which lets me show off a lot and fly all over the neck of my bass." As it stands, the band does not have an official distributor for the album, though it is expected to be released within the next few months.

In September of 2005, Jamie Kallend left Pagoda due to reasons that are currently unknown. The band played several acoustic shows in New York the following month which was met with great interest. The last show they played was in November, a release party for the "Last Days" DVD.