Hoobastank

Hoobastank’s latest chapter shows a band still in motion. Their most recent album, Push Pull, arrived in May 2018, adding to a catalog of six studio albums and one EP, and the group marked the 20th anniversary of their self-titled 2001 breakthrough with a behind-the-scenes docu series and the co-headlining Tried-N-True tour with Lit, Alien Ant Farm, and The Ataris’ Kristopher Roe. Three decades on from their 1994 formation, they have sold ten million albums worldwide.

The band took root in Agoura Hills, California, when vocalist Doug Robb, who had competed against guitarist Dan Estrin in a high school battle of the bands, joined forces with him alongside bassist Markku Lappalainen and drummer Chris Hesse. Cutting their teeth at Los Angeles’ Cobalt Cafe alongside Incubus and Linkin Park, they self-released their 1998 debut, They Sure Don’t Make Basketball Shorts Like They Used To, before Island Records signed them in 2000.

Their 2001 major-label debut, Hoobastank, went Platinum behind the singles “Crawling in the Dark” and “Running Away,” hitting No. 25 on the Billboard 200. But it was 2003’s The Reason that defined them: its title track, released in January 2004, reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100, topped charts in four countries, and earned two 2005 Grammy nominations for Song of the Year and Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals.

Across albums like Every Man for Himself (2006), Fornever (2009), and Fight or Flight (2012), Robb says the secret to their longevity has been simple: making music with friends, keeping egos in check, and doing it for the right reasons.