The Miracals (formerly The Smiles) is an indie rock quartet comprised of four college students from a university in Los Angeles, CA. Will Sturgeon and John McGrath met in 2009 at the University of Southern California. They wrote songs together in their dorm rooms until, in September of 2009, Brendan Kirlin joined them on guitar and Mark Edwards joined them on drums. Will picked up the bass, and the four began playing house parties at USC. As the band grew together over the next few months, they started recording their debut EP, Hermosa. To do this, they set a goal of $2000 to raise on Kickstarter, reaching and exceeding their goal in under 24 hours. ///// Hermosa - EP came out in May 2010. The title of this 6-song EP originated from the city where it was recorded, Hermosa Beach, CA. Their friend Michael Peha recorded them in his basement; so they got to watch Planet Earth and eat pizza while recording near the beach. Sweet. ///// The band received a small amount of positive blog buzz from Hermosa throughout the rest of 2010. They released a Christmas EP, Mary, Christmas Baby in December. In March of 2011, the boys rented a minivan and travelled down to Mark's hometown of Austin for SXSW. In October 2011, The Smiles announced that, due to legal disputes, they had to change their name to "The Miracals." At the same time, they announced their sophomore EP, Give Me A Chance, would be released November 7th, 2011.
