London's dark pop quartet Scanners consists of singers/guitarists Sarah Daly and Matthew Mole, guitarist/keyboardist Amina Bates, and drummer Tom Hutt. The band began as the duo of Daly and Mole, who played their first gigs backed by a drum machine; Bates was one of the group's first fans and soon joined their ranks. With the addition of Hutt, who had moved to London from the countryside shortly before hooking up with Scanners, the lineup was complete. After playing gigs with the Fever, Electric Six, and Juliette Lewis & the Licks, Scanners connected with Dim Mak, which signed the band. The «Lowlife» single was released in spring 2006 as a teaser for Scanners' full‑length debut, Violence Is Golden, which arrived that summer.