Hellogoodbye and Bemo Rouge

Truth be told, trying to get laid has led to the creation of great art long before Hellogoodbye came along. Trace everything from the Venus De Milo to “Yeezus” back and you’re almost certainly going to find elements that are there because its creator was trying to bed someone with only their artistic talent to rely on. Hellogoodbye trump the others as they’re a band with three studio albums, five E.P’s and a single that went into the top 15 of the Billboard Hot 100, who formed for exactly that reason. In the unlikely event that they hadn’t succeeded in that plan, we can all be sure that Hellogoodbye’s successes in every other medium more than makes up for it.

The band began as a recording project between Forrest Kline and Jesse Kurvink, who met while studying at Huntington Beach High School. The dup wrote songs and then recorded them onto Kline’s computer at home, and due to his interest in web design Kline was even able to set up a website for the duo while posting their demos onto sites like MP3.com. As the duo continued to write and record their demos their interest in being a band grew and grew, alongside everyone elses interest in their band for that matter. Inspired by the reaction they were getting, they decided to make a proper go of being a band and start performing live.

The band spent two years honing their live show all over their home state and making their first tentative touring steps to New Mexico and Texas before they were signed to Drive-Thru Records in 2003. While signed the band went through some line-up troubles but within a year they had released their self-titled debut E.P, which was rapturously received and sent the band out on many more headlining tours. So much touring that on the night of October 22nd 2004, the bands van was being driven by bassist Marcus Cole through Pennsylvania, who flipped and totalled their van and trailer after dozing off at the wheel.

If you want a good barometer as to how legit this band is, then the fact that they kept touring almost immediately afterwards works as well as anything else. By 2005 their E.P had made them such a name that they released their first DVD “OMG HGB DVD ROTFL” before their debut album was released. Finally, their debut album proper was released in 2006, and “Zombies! Aliens! Vampires! Dinosaurs!” was a hit straight off the bat, going straight in at number 13 on the Billboard 200 and at number 17 in the U.K.

Their imperial phase was cemented by the astonishing success of “Here (In Your Arms)”, the albums lead single that eventually climbed to number 14 on the Billboard Hot 100 in January 2007, number four on the U.K singles chart and went platinum in the U.S the very same year. Ever since then the band have been carving out their own little niche far away from the tastemakers and fads of the world. In recent years they’ve been touring with the likes of Paramore and Metric and they continue to release stellar albums to their devoted fan-base. They’re a true cult act, and they come highly recommended.