hoobastank

Early career

Hoobastank formed in the Los Angeles County suburb Agoura Hills in 1994. Vocalist Doug Robb met with guitarist Dan Estrin in a high school battle of the bands competition and decided to form a band. They recruited Markku Lappalainen and Chris Hesse to form Hoobastank, which at the time was spelled Hoobustank (pronounced the same way as "Hoobastank"). In an interview with Launch Yahoo!, Doug Robb said the name had no particular meaning. "You're going to ask me what it means. It doesn't mean anything. And it's really cool, it's one of those old high school inside-joke words that didn't really mean anything." [1] Rob Bourdon, Mike Shinoda, and Brad Delson of Linkin Park attended the same high school as the members of Hoobastank.

Hoobastank started playing gigs in their local area and recorded a self-released album called They Sure Don't Make Basketball Shorts Like They Used To in 1998 with their unique saxophone section headed by Jeremy Wasser, who also Executive Produced Basketball Shorts and recorded the Summer Romance saxophone solo on the Incubus S.C.I.E.N.C.E. album. By this stage, they had developed a strong reputation in Southern California. This attracted interest from Island Records who signed the band in 2000. The band's reputation grew further on tours with the similar sounding band Incubus, who come from the same area as Alien Ant Farm (Los Angeles). They also covered a variety of songs, such as Rod Stewart's "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?" and Cyndi Lauper's "Girls Just Want to Have Fun."

Career success

Hoobastank released their self-titled debut in November 2001. The first single was "Crawling in the Dark" which was a breakthrough hit reaching #68 on the Billboard Hot 100, #3 on the modern rock chart, #8 on the mainstream rock chart and #1 on an MP3.com download chart in early 2002. The second single "Running Away" was even more successful reaching #44 on the Billboard Hot 100, #2 on the modern rock chart, #9 on the mainstream rock chart and #3 on the MP3.com download chart. The Hoobastank album went platinum on the back of these hits and reached #25 on the Billboard 200 album charts and #1 on the Billboard Heatseeker chart. The album also achieved recognition internationally with the album touring in Europe and Asia in support of the record. "Remember Me" the third single was a moderate hit reaching #23 on the modern rock charts and #9 on the mainstream rock charts.

The band entered the studio in 2003 with producer Howard Benson who has produced records by P.O.D., Cold and The Crystal Method. However, recording was disrupted for a month when Dan Estrin was seriously injured in a freak minibike accident in August. Estrin had recovered by October and the band headed off on a Nokia Unwired Tour with the All-American Rejects and Ozomatli in November.

Their second album The Reason was released in December 2003. The single "Same Direction" was made available for download on the band's website. Doug Robb says on the band's website: "A lot of it is about asking questions or questioning all that people see. It's not all about religion. "Same Direction" is about that and about opening your eyes after being blinded by being devoted to anything." [2] "Same Direction" would reach #9 on the US modern rock chart, #16 on the mainstream rock chart and #16 on a composite world modern rock chart (based on the US, Germany, Sweden, Finland, Canada and Australia). The Reason initially debuted at #45 on the Billboard chart.

The title track was released as a single in the first half of 2004 and was first played on 102.7 KIIS FM in Los Angeles, CA. It became a massive hit reaching #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 (chart proof), #1 on the US and world modern rock charts, #1 on a world airplay chart in May 2004 and #10 in Australia.

In Canada, it spent 20 weeks at the top, setting a new record for most weeks at No. 1.

The Reason album received a new lease of life on the US album charts reaching #3 on the Billboard 200.

Band members

• Douglas Robb - Vocals
• Dan Estrin - Guitars
• Josh Moreau - Bass (played bass during recent tours and has made promotional appearances with the band since the album's release, though no official announcement of him joining the band has been made)
• Chris Hesse - Drums

Former members

• Markku Lappalainen - Bass (left in 2005, following the band's summer tour)
• Jeremy Wasser - Saxophone (Basketball Shorts)
• Derek Kwan - Saxophone (live shows only)

Discography

Singles

The band's international profile was increased by a support slot on Linkin Park's Meteora world tour in early 2004.

Their third studio album, Every Man for Himself, was released on May 16th, 2006. "If I Were You," "Born to Lead," "Inside of You" and "If Only" have been released as singles from their new album.

The single "If I Were You" won the category for "Favourite Alternative Act (Pop & Rock)" at the 2006 African Musical Awards held in Senegal. The band was also nominated for Favourite Group, the award was token by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Other artists who were in this category are Black Eyed Peas, Gnarls Barkley and Pussycat Dolls

Hoobastank has also appeared with the song "Did You" on the Spider-Man 2 Soundtrack.

External links

• Hoobastank home page
• Hoobastank at MySpace

• Hoobastank at PureVolume
• Hoobastank at MTV.com
• Hoobastank at All Music Guide
• Rare and unreleased tracks
• Hoobastank Videos
• Lyrics