Valentine – 5 Seconds of Summer

Australian rock band 5 Seconds of Summer make ebullient, high-energy music that straddles the line between ’90s punk-pop and 2000s boy band pop. Formed in 2011, the band features Luke Hemmings (lead vocals/guitar), Michael Clifford (guitar/vocals), Calum Hood (bass/vocals), and Ashton Irwin (drums/vocals). They uploaded several videos to YouTube and quickly caught the attention of Sony, which signed the band to a publishing deal.

In 2012, 5 Seconds of Summer released two EPs, Unplugged and Somewhere New. The following year, they received a further boost after being asked to open for Britain’s One Direction on tour, and shortly thereafter signed with Capitol Records. In 2014, a third EP was released, She Looks So Perfect, and their debut album, 5 Seconds of Summer, followed soon afterward. It promptly hit number one in the charts of more than a dozen countries around the globe. In late 2014, the band wrapped up a world tour and released the live concert album LIVESOS, which featured a cover of the Romantics’ 1980 hit “What I Like About You.” Following a break, they traveled to Los Angeles to work with producer John Feldmann (the Used, All-Time Low, Plain White T’s), who’d previously helmed most of the group’s debut album.

In 2015, 5 Seconds of Summer delivered their second full-length studio album, Sounds Good Feels Good, which found the group collaborating on songs with Good Charlotte’s Benji and Joel Madden, All-Time Low’s Alex Gaskarth, the Monsters & the Strangerz, and others. Included were the songs “Permanent Vacation,” which they had introduced while on tour, the lead single “She’s Kinda Hot,” and “Jet Black Heart.” Upon its release, the album went to number one in the U.S., U.K., and Australia on the same day. Early in 2016, the group headed out on a world tour that reached the U.S., U.K., and Asia. The single “Want You Back” appeared in 2018. ~ Matt Collar

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