Eager was a band created by Patrick Andrew of the band PFR. Patrick began forming the new band with Greg Pope in 1995. Greg (also a songwriter) had been touring with PFR as a backup guitarist. To quell rumors of the unannounced but impending PFR breakup, Patrick publicly explained the new band as just "a side project". The two songwriters recruited drummer Paul Eckberg in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and the three moved to Nashville in the Fall of 1996. They quickly enlisted Mark Kloos from Raleigh, North Carolina, who was Greg's former bandmate in Apple Green and The Greg Pope Band.