Thom Copher (former bassist with Skeleton, Whitechapel District, and Zeroking) began Payback's a Bitch in 2016 after the implosion of his previous band, Whitechapel District, the previous year. The initial objective was to "... return to my punk roots without being told how my material 'should' be arranged and played." The result was You Fat Bastards, a lean 10-song collection where all the excesses were trimmed... like guitar solos. 2019' s Appetite for Obstruction saw Copher expand PaB's sound with the addition of multi-tracked guitars (including solos) and layered vocals.
2022 saw the album This is My Life which morphed into a "punk-rock- operetta" during recording sessions which took two years, and that which Copher considers "my Sgt. Pepper's... so far." The following year, a cover of The Cure's '89 classic "Fascination Street" surfaced ("a request from my wife").
Landing in 2025, "Searching For Eden" delves into Copher's curiosity into the stoner/desert side of metal, offering a not-so-futuristic commentary on mankind's inevitable outward quest. "Now, it's not necessarily the kinda shit you hear on the radio. Then again, Payback's a Bitch, while predominately punk/proto-punk, is not defined by genre. I've mixed in a bit of bluegrass, alt-rock, a tad of funk/disco, and several different bastardizations of straight-up rock and roll. I'm the CEO of this circus, so you never know what you're gonna get - and, at the moment, neither do I."
