Black Olive was formed by bassist Brian Petersen and drummer Brooks Etienne, both formerly of the band Apeksha, when they teamed up with a shogaze-style guitarist named Jeremy Wrenn. The band, originally called Dimmer, first released the song "Example" on the 1995 Live From Bloomington Compilation CD. They soon changed the name to Black Olive and released their own CD, "Verge," later in 1995. They recorded a second album in 1997, but proptly broke up upon doing so. The band members went on to other projects: Jeremy formed the band Airiel, based first in Bloomington and then later Chicago. Brian started PercyQ with Ryan Sprowles, and later played with several other bands, including Snakedrive, Extra Blue Kind, and currently, God Made Robots.