| Hoobastank | |
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Hoobastank’s lineup in 2013, From left to right, Dan Estrin, Chris Heese, Doug Robb, and Jesse Charland
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| Background information | |
| Origin | Agoura Hills, Los Angeles, California, United States |
| Genres |
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| Years active | 1994–present |
| Labels | |
| Associated acts | Vanessa Amorosi |
| Website | www |
| Members |
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| Past members |
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Hoobastank (often stylized as h∞bastank) is an American rock band, formed in 1994 in Agoura Hills, California with lead singer Doug Robb, guitarist Dan Estrin, drummer Chris Hesse, and original bassist Markku Lappalainen. They were signed to Island Records from 2001 to 2012 and have released five albums and one extended play to date. Their fifth studio album, Fight or Flight, was released on September 11, 2012. They have sold 10 million albums worldwide.[1] The band is best known for their singles “Crawling in the Dark“, “Running Away“, and “The Reason“.[2]
Contents
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History
Early career (1994–2000)
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.[3] They then recruited Markku Lappalainen and Chris Hesse to form Hoobastank.
Hoobastank started playing gigs at the local venue Cobalt Cafe along with Incubus 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 an unusual saxophone section headed by Jeremy Wasser, who executive produced the album and recorded the Summer Romance saxophone solo on Incubus‘ S.C.I.E.N.C.E. album. The Incubus connections continued with Fourth Street Recording’s music producer Jim Wirt and logos and visual design by Brett Spivey.
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. At the time of signing, the band had completed a second full-length album, titled Forward, also featuring Jeremy Wasser, however the band felt that the direction they were heading in would work best without a sax, so Wasser departed the band and the album was shelved. A few tracks were rerecorded for release on the band’s self-titled 2001 release. The original recordings from the Forward sessions made their way to the Internet via peer to peer sites in late 2001.
Hoobastank (2001–2002)
Hoobastank released its self-titled debut album in November 2001. The first single was “Crawling in the Dark” which was a breakthrough hit, reaching No. 68 on the Billboard Hot 100, No. 3 on the Modern Rock chart, No. 7 on the Mainstream Rock chart[4] and No. 1 on an MP3.com download chart in early 2002. Also, the song was featured in the 2002 inline skating game, Aggressive Inline, appearing on the Xbox, PlayStation, PlayStation 2 and GameCube consoles. The second single “Running Away” was even more successful, reaching No. 44 on the Billboard Hot 100, No. 2 on the Modern Rock chart, No. 9 on the Mainstream Rock chart and No. 3 on the MP3.com download chart. The Hoobastank album went Platinum due to these hit singles and reached No. 25 on the Billboard 200 album charts and No. 1 on the Billboard Heatseeker chart.
The album 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 No. 23 on the Modern Rock charts. The band made a song titled “Losing My Grip” for the soundtrack of the movie The Scorpion King.
The Reason (2003–2005)
In early 2003, in Myanmar the group contributed the song “Right Before Your Eyes” to Daredevil: The Album. The band then entered the studio with producer Howard Benson. Recording was disrupted for a month when Dan Estrin was seriously injured in a 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.
In an interview, Chris Hesse was asked 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.”[5]
Their second album The Reason was released in December 2003. The single Out of Control was made available for download on the band’s website. Doug Robb said 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.” “Same Direction” would reach No. 9 on the US Modern Rock chart, No. 16 on the Mainstream Rock chart and No. 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 Reason” was put to a popular music video on Tangle.[6]
The title track was released as a single in the first half of 2004. It became a hit, reaching No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100, No. 1 on the US and World Modern Rock charts, No. 10 in Australia, No. 12 in the United Kingdom and No. 15 in Germany. The song was also played during the final episode of Friends. In Canada, it spent 21 weeks at the top, setting a new record for most weeks at No. 1. Meanwhile, in the United States, the album reached No. 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.