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.[1] They then recruited Markku Lappalainen and Hesse to form Hoobastank.
Hoobastank started playing gigs at the local venue Cobalt Cafe along with Incubus, 311 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 said 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.
e band entered the studio in 2003 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. An interview was made with Chris 'soldier' 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."[3]
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." "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 Reason' was put to a popular music video on Tangle.[4]
The title track was released as a single in the first half of 2004. It became a hit reaching #2 on the Billboard Hot 100, #1 on the US and World Modern Rock charts, #10 in Australia and #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 #3 on the Billboard 200 album chart.
Doug Robb provided vocals for Apocalyptica's new single release "Not Strong Enough ft Doug Robb" on January 18, 2011.
On February 15, 2011, Doug announced on Twitter that there is a new album being released, although no timeframe was offered.
In June 2011, the band went on tour in Iraq for the USO Road Tour performing for the U.S. military throughout the country.
Band members
Current members
- Doug Robb – lead vocals, rhythm guitar (1995–present)
- Dan Estrin – lead guitar (1995–present)
- Jesse Charland – bass (2009–present)
- Chris Hesse – drums (1995–present)
Former members
- Jeremy Wasser – saxophone (1995–2000)
- Derek Kwan – saxophone (1997–1999)
- Markku Lappalainen – bass (1995–2005)
- Josh Moreau – bass (2006–2008)
- David Amezcua – bass (2008)