Following the breakup of early Indianapolis new wave band Joint Chiefs of Staff, Dave Fulton and Steve Grigdesby assembled a new band which was originally named Agent Orange, until they discovered the west coast surf-punk band Agent Orange.  There were two versions of the Last Four Digits.  The Last Four (4) Digits were Fulton, Grigdesby, Worth and Koss. Fulton and Grigdesby were two of the Hardly Music partners, so the band’s Big Picture EP was one of the four 7″ releases offered by the label in 1981.  A small number of the copies included hand painted sleeves.  This band also placed a track on Gulcher’s Red Snerts compilation, a modernized cover of Captain Beefheart’s “Diddy Wah Diddy”.  Fulton and Grigdesby operated a live sound company and recording studio called Defoliant Sound during this time.  The band appeared (without its knowledge of course) on the bootleg Killed By Synth series and is well regarded by fans of early American new wave.

After Worth departed, Sheets joined on guitar, Julie Huffaker (ex-Repellents) joined as bassist, and ex Dow Jones and the Industrials keyboardist Brad Garton (Mr. Science) joined.  The second version of the band was known as the Last Four (5) Digits, a nod to the enlarged band size of the second version.  The band recorded enough tracks for an LP, but following an east coast tour climaxing at CBGB in New York, the band called it quits in 1982.  Fulton and Garton were involved in several side projects, including Observers Observing Observables, We’re Jimmy Hoffa (with Sheets), Christian Lepers From Hell and The Oz Show.  

During the first version of the band, Fulton appeared on Gulcher Records’ Red Snerts LP as A.Xax, and Mr. Science had a track on the LP as well.  Fulton, Greg Horn and Rick Wilkerson dabbled in an all-synth band, John Wayne Band, which did not record.  

Following the breakup of the second band version, Fulton, Grigdesby, Koss and Garton were out of music for some time, while Sheets continued, notably with the Paul Mahern led Dandelion Abortion, and the parody punk band Cheeses From France.  Sheets also launched the label Rusty Cow Records in the late 1980’s. Huffaker also continued to play in several local bands in the ensuing years.

The Last Four Digits reunited a few times beginning in 2003, combining members from both band versions.  The most frequent unit included Fulton, Grigdesby, Huffaker, Sheets and Koss.  In 2017, Timechange Records released a full length LP/CD retrospective of both bands, entitled Don’t Move, which surfaced the second band version’s recordings for the first time, along with selected tracks from the first version’s recordings.  The CD contained the entire CBGB live set as a bonus.    The band supported the release with live shows, but then disbanded in 2018.