The band was founded in 2002 by bassist and keyboardist Jeremy Dawson and vocalist and guitarist Chad Petree. Both had known each other for years growing up in Shawnee, Oklahoma and worked together on previous music projects such as Cloud2Ground and Slyder. After these projects, they went underground for a couple of years but continued making music together until enlisting both vocalist Carah Faye Charnow and drummer Mikey Martin in 2004.

Ursula Vari was the first female vocalist for the band Shiny Toy Guns. Ursula's vocals were featured in the bands early CD track releases. Ursula Vari fronted the band in 2002/2003 and early 2004, appearing at live gigs and in some early music videos. Ursula Vari's backing vocals were used in the October 2006 We Are Pilots v3 Universal/Motown Records release of 'We Are Pilots' which most likely were used in the final mix from earlier recording sessions. The band fired Vari (for reasons unknown) and hired Carah Faye Charnow in 2004 as their new female leader singer. Vari is credited with having had a major influence in developing and creating Shiny Toy Guns' song lyrics and vocal interpretations of the bands' songs during her tenure. Ursula Vari is from Romania and currently works as a yoga instructor in Los Angeles and occassional actress with credited appearances in several low budget independent films.

Shiny Toy Guns quickly gained popularity locally in California as well as through their MySpace page. In January 2005, they released their first album We Are Pilots through record company Stormwest International. They began touring across America that summer in support of their album. They re-recorded and re-released We Are Pilots through record company Sidecho in November 2005, with a revised track list. They continued to tour extensively, and in June 2006, after extensive negotiations that had begun in November of 2005, they signed with Universal Records and released a finalized copy of We Are Pilots on October 17, 2006.

Their song "You Are the One" has its roots in Jeremy Dawson's trance song "Neo", that was put out under the Slyder moniker.

On October 29, 2007 Shiny Toy Guns (using the alias "The Shinys") appeared on the children's television series Yo Gabba Gabba!.

On December 6, 2007, We Are Pilots received a Grammy Award nomination in the category of Best Electronic/Dance Album, but lost to The Chemical Brothers.

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