Hoobastank is an American post-grunge band best known for their crossover hit "The Reason" (2003) and by their continued success in the modern rock market.
History
Early career (1994-2000)
Hoobastank formed in the Los Angeles County suburb Agoura Hills in 1994. According to drummer Chris Hesse, vocalist Doug Robb had known guitarist Dan Estrin for some time before competing against him in a high school battle of the bands competition and subsequently, they decided to form a band.
They then recruited Markku Lappalainen and 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."
Rob Bourdon, Mike Shinoda, and Brad Delson of Linkin Park attended the same high school, Agoura High School, as the members of Hoobastank.
Hoobastank started playing gigs in their local area, the band started out in Cobalt Cafe along with Linkin Park, Incubus, Avenged Sevenfold and others.They recorded their first full-length self-released album in 1998 called
They Sure Don't Make Basketball Shorts Like They Used To. It featured a unique saxophone section headed by Jeremy Wasser, who executive produced said album and recorded the
Summer Romance saxophone solo on Incubus'
S.C.I.E.N.C.E. album. By this stage, Hoobastank had developed a strong reputation in Southern California. This attracted interest from Island Records, who subsequently signed the band in 2000. The band's reputation continued to grow on tours with the similar sounding band Incubus.
They 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."
Hoobastank (2001-2002)
Hoobastank released their self-titled debut album 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, #7 on the Mainstream Rock chart
[ http://billboard.com/bbcom/retrieve_chart_history.do?model.vnuArtistId=470278&model.vnuAlbumId=612770 Billboard.com ] 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 thanks to these hit singles and reached #25 on the Billboard 200 album charts and #1 on the Billboard Heatseeker chart.However, the album received many negative reviews including a 2.5 stars review by All Music Guide which includes the line: "Nothing here's gonna change the world, but the fact that these guys don't seem inclined toward filling any agenda or catering to a specific audience is promising".The album also achieved recognition internationally with the band touring in Europe and Asia in support of the record. "Remember Me", the third single released from this album, was a moderate hit reaching #23 on the Modern Rock charts and #9 on the Mainstream Rock charts. The band also made a song titled "Losing My Grip" for the soundtrack of the movie
The Scorpion King.In late 2001, Hoobastank were invited to play in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame due to the success of the album.
The Reason (2003-2005)
The band entered the studio in 2003 with producer Howard Benson who has produced records by P.O.D., Blindside, 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.
An interview was made with Chris Hesse, asking the same question all ask... "How did the band come up with the name Hoobastank?" He replied, "Doug's brother is the vice president of BMW Motorcycles and lives in Germany. And there is this street out by his house that is called Hooba Street or something like that and before Doug could pronounce the name, he called it Hoobastank and it was kinda a cute thing and his brother still teases him about it to this day. When we were looking for band names it's almost impossible to find a band name that hasn't been taken. Anything remotely normal has been taken already. I don't remember how it came up but someone said it and we were like yeah."
Their second album
The Reason was released in December 2003.It showcased a harder-edged vocal performance from Robb. 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. "Out of Control" is about that and about opening your eyes after being blinded by being devoted to anything."
[ http://www.hoobastank.com/v5/bio.asp Hoobastank.com ] "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). A year later, the
Let It Out DVD collected the band's videos.
The title track was released as a single in the first half of 2004. It became a massive hit reaching #2 on the Billboard Hot 100,
[ chart proof http://billboard.com/bbcom/retrieve_chart_history.do?model.vnuArtistId=470278&model.vnuAlbumId=612770 chart proof Billboard.com ] #1 on the US and World Modern Rock charts, #1 on a World Airplay chart in May 2004 and #10 in Australia. The song was also played during the final episode of Friends. In Canada, it spent 20 weeks at the top, setting a new record for most weeks at No. 1. Meanwhile in the United States, the album reached #3 on the Billboard 200 album chart.
The band's international profile was increased by a support slot on Linkin Park's
Meteora world tour in early 2004.
Every Man for Himself (2006-present)
Their third album
Every Man for Himself was released in May 2006 and debuted at #12 on the Billboard chart. Three singles, "If I Were You", "Inside of You" and "Born to Lead" have been released so far, all of which have fared poorly on the rock charts.Another single, "If Only" was planned to be released but was canceled for unknown reasons, possibly because of the low chart achievements of the first three singles.Despite this, the album has been certified Gold in the United States.
On a 2005 co-headlining tour with Velvet Revolver, the band received a chilly reception from some audiences and rumors of a feud between Robb and Velvet Revolver frontman Scott Weiland were soon filling Internet message boards. "If I Were You," addressed the whole affair,
[[http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/bio/index.jsp?pid=470278Hoobastank Biography] Billboard.com ]Doug later said in an interview with MTV News online that he has nothing against Scott or any other member of Velvet Revolver
[[http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1508953/20050906/hoobastank.jhtmlHooba Have A Few Words For Velvet Revolver MTV.com ]For much of 2007, Hoobastank has been touring in America, Asia, Australia, and South Africa. They are now back in the United States, working on their fourth album which is rumoured to be coming out sometime in early 2008.
In October 2007, Doug posted on the Official Hoobastank message boards and said that they have "Set the bar very very high for this next CD" and that they have "More ideas going into this CD than ever before".
Band members
- Douglas Robb - Lead vocals and rhythm guitar
- Dan Estrin - Lead guitar and backing vocals
- Josh Moreau - Bass guitar
- Chris Hesse - Drums and percussion
Former members
- Markku Lappalainen - Bass guitar (1997-2005)
- Jeremy Wasser - Saxophone (Basketball Shorts only)
- Derek Kwan - Saxophone (1997-1999)
Discography
Albums
Singles
Trivia
- Singer Tom Jones recorded a cover of "The Reason" and performed it at the 48th Viņa del Mar International Song Festival.
- Their song "Let It Out" was used for the RockIt Mountain overlay of Space Mountain at Disneyland for Grad Nite 2006.
- A covered version of another one of their songs, "Without a Fight", was included as the penultimate level in the 2006 Nintendo DS video game Elite Beat Agents.
- A single, "Connected," was released as a bonus track on the Halo 2 Soundtrack, Vol. 1.
- The Song "If Only" from the album Every Man For Himself has been posted on their MySpace page containing different lyrics.
- The song "Crawling in the Dark" is featured on the video game Aggressive Inline.
- Douglas Robb is the younger brother of Tom Robb, bodyguard of mega-star rock bands Metallica, Live, Creed, and Linkin Park.
- Their songs "Same Direction" and "Out Of Control" were featured on the game " Eve of Destruction".
- The song "Crawling in the Dark" is featured on the Rollerball soundtrack
- The vocals from "Say The Same" are used in the hardcore track "Scott Brown - Walk Together"
- The song "Born to Lead" from the album Every Man For Himself and its music video were used as a skin for the game Lumines II.
- Hoobastank contributed the unreleased track "Right Before Your Eyes" to the "Daredevil" movie soundtrack.
- The song Crawling in the Dark is included in the PS2 edition and the Xbox edition of the first title in the popular Karaoke video game Karaoke Revolution as a playable track, the song The Reason is a playable track on Karaoke Revolution Volume 3.
- A single, "Did You", was released as a bonus track on the Spider-man 2 soundtrack but did not chart anywhere.
- "Same Direction" was featured on the movie Catwoman.
- Their song Crawling in the Dark was also included in the TransWorld Snowboarding Xbox game.
- Rod Kimbel in the 2007 blockbuster comedy movie hit "Hot Rod" blurted the words Hoobastank while recovering from the Taco and Grilled Cheese fight in the Heaven dream sequence after a bus jumping stunt biking accident at the end of movie.
External links
Notes
2000s music groupsAmerican rock music groupsPost-grunge groupsCalifornia musical groups
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