Taking their name (slightly altered) from a particularly dark, dystopian 1964 episode of The Twilight Zone, the Number Twelve Looks Like You plays a particularly dark and dystopian form of screamo that incorporates elements not only of the expected metal and hardcore but also Japanese-style noise rock à la the Boredoms and the show-offy tempo, time signature, and dynamic shifts of Frank Zappa. Forming in the New York City suburbs of Bergen County, NJ, in 2001 (initially under the name And Ever), the initial lineup of the Number Twelve Looks Like You was singers Jesse Korman and Justin Pedrick, guitarists Alexis Pareja and Jamie McIlroy, bassist Michael "Smoogs" Smagula, and drummer Christopher "Chree" Conger. This lineup released its debut EP, Put on Your Rosy Red Glasses, in March 2003. A concept record probing the fictionalized mind of a real-life serial killer, Put on Your Rosy Red Glasses got the band signed to the influential emo label Eyeball Records, which reissued the EP in 2006. In early 2005, with new drummer Jon Karel replacing Conger, the group released their second EP, An Inch of Gold for an Inch of Time. This was followed in June 2005 by their debut full-length, Nuclear. Sad. Nuclear. Following the release of that album, Smagula left the Number Twelve Looks Like You to focus on his own band, Batter Up; he was replaced by Chris Russell.