Hoobastank

Although they didn't release their first album until 2001, Hoobastank began gigging as far back as 1994. They even self-recorded an album in 1998, They Sure Don't Make Basketball Shorts Like They Used To, gathered a loyal following and the band was signed by Island Records in 2000. However, their album Forward was shelved by the label after it decided that the direction the band was heading was wrong; and saxophonist Jeremy Wasser was dropped. So when in 2001 they released their first label-produced album, Hoobastank, the boys had already been on the music scene for several years. Singles Crawling In The Dark and Running Away reached Numbers 1 and 3 in the MP3 Download charts respectively. Plans for their 2003 tour (following the release of their second album, The Reason) had to be changed following guitarist Dan Estrin's involvement in a freak motorbike accident - Estrin made a full recovery. Hoobastank's third album, Every Man For Himself, in 2006 saw little success whilst fourth album, For(N)ever, was finally released in January 2009 but, despite reaching a reasonable number on the Billboard album charts, it is little known to most Hoobastank fan's due to the lack of publicity. However, keeping true to their original Californian punk rock, the band to date has sold more than 10 million records worldwide.