The very idea of The Joshua Tree was born in the summer of 2003 out of the enthusiastic response their audiences gave to any U2 covers the band, then known as Exit Three, played. After polishing up some more U2 material the guys decided to focus on becoming a U2 tribute band. After tossing around a few names for the band, the guys settled on The Joshua Tree.

Noticing there were several U2 “tribute” bands out there, the guys felt that only a few of them could truly be called a "tribute". Most were more accurately classified as U2 cover bands (not that there's anything wrong with that!). Early on it was decided that The Joshua Tree wouldn't just cover U2 songs, but would go to whatever length to recreate the sound, feel, and experience of seeing the real U2. Not an easy task, but the guys felt that what defines a “tribute” includes the accurate recreation of wardrobe, attitude, stage show, and the character role-playing of Bono, The Edge, Adam, and Larry.

The first thing the guys did was study whatever recorded live performances of U2 they could find, including Rattle and Hum, some bootlegs, and the well-known stuff, like the Boston Elevation DVD, the Slane Castle Show, and Live at Red Rocks. The guys didn’t just want to play the songs correctly, they wanted to strive to recreate the “U2 Sound” exactly. That included the modulated delays of The Edge, the driving bass of Adam, the crisp tone of Larry’s drums and Bono’s passionate vocals.

And they wanted to focus on the entire U2 catalog of music, to please not just the casual U2 fan who knows the hits, but to please the diehard fan too, with songs like “Out Of Control”, “Electric Co” and “Bad”.

The Joshua Tree played their first show to a small audience at a local church. It was a humble beginning but as the year progressed the band gained more and more visibility by playing bigger venues, to bigger crowds. Many of the shows were to help raise money for several charitable groups. They also played private and corporate shows, and debuted songs from U2’s “How to Dismantle An Atomic Bomb”. 2004 highlights included participating in the Shawn Hill Benefit at the Normandie Casino, and two performances at the 1st Annual Los Angeles U2 Fan Convention.

2005 kicked off with two blistering sets on, appropriately enough, New Year’s Day at Molly Mallone’s in Los Angeles. The guys played to a packed house, including some who had traveled from out of state just to see them. The Joshua Tree plan to use that amazing night as a springboard into an amazing year.