Hoobastank

Hoobastank (often stylized as h∞bastank) is an American rock band, formed in 1994 in Agoura Hills, California with 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 sixth studio album, Fight or Flight, was released on September 11, 2012. They have sold 10 million albums worldwide.

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 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.

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 Island execs 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.

In early 2003, in Myanmar the group contributed the song "Right Before Your Eyes" to the Daredevil 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 'soldier' 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."

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" from Every Man for Himself addressed the whole affair. Robb later said in an interview with MTV News online that he has nothing against Scott Weiland or any other member of Velvet Revolver.

Hoobastank's music has been considered a various of genres which are post-grunge, alternative rock, alternative metal, hard rock, nu metal, funk metal and ska punk On their early independent releases, the band use a funk metal and ska punk sound and had a saxophone musician in the band. In their major-label debut album self-titled debut album, the band's sound has changed and removed their saxophone musician and remained as a 4-piece rock band using a heavily post-grunge sound and although, despite most of the album having no rapping, the album had some influences of the nu metal sound. The band's sound matured in their third album The Reason which removed their nu metal influences sound and their post-grunge sound became more melodic. Throughout their releases after The Reason, the band has retained their post-grunge and alternative rock sound.


Current members
Douglas Robb - lead vocals, occasional guitar (1995–present)
Dan Estrin – lead guitar (1995–present)
Chris Hesse – drums, backing vocals (1995–present)
Jesse Charland – bass, backing vocals (2009–present)

Former members
Jeremy Wasser – saxophone (1995–2000)
Derek Kwan – saxophone (1997–1999)
Markku Lappalainen – bass (1995–2005)
Josh Moreau – bass, backing vocals (2006–2008)
David Amezcua – bass (2008)

Discography
Main article: Hoobastank discography
Studio albums
They Sure Don't Make Basketball Shorts Like They Used To (1998)
Hoobastank (2001)
The Reason (2003)
Every Man for Himself
Fornever (2009)
Fight or Flight (2012)