Between working and touring with Karate, Geoff Farina co-founded the Secret Stars with Jodi Buonanno in 1993. The music of the duo was much more folk oriented (originally conceived with the sole intent of writing love songs for the founders' friends) and often found Farina playing acoustic guitar. The Secret Stars themselves would come to be a loose collective of musicians involved in the east coast indie scene, including notables such as Ted Leo and George Hall.