5 Seconds of Summer Biography

news-detailsAustralian pop punk and pop rock band 5 Seconds of Summer was formed in Sydney in 2011. It consists of Luke Hemmings (lead vocals, guitar), Michael Clifford (guitar, vocals), Calum Hood (bass guitar, vocals) and Ashton Irwin (drums, vocals). Hemmings, Clifford and Hood all attended Norwest Christian College. In 2011, they began posting YouTube videos of themselves covering songs from various artists. Their cover of Chris Brown's "Next to You" received over 600,000 views. In December 2011, they were joined by drummer Irwin. Their videos caught the attention of Sony which later signed them to a publishing deal. They released their first EP titled "Unplugged". Despite only promoting it on Facebook and Twitter, the EP reached number 3 on the iTunes chart in Australia and the Top 20 in both New Zealand and Sweden.

5 Seconds of Summer spent the second half of 2012 writing and developing their sound with Christian Lo Russo and Joel Chapman of Australian band Amy Meredith, with whom they wrote two of the songs that appear in the "Somewhere New" EP, "Beside You" and "Unpredictable". The EP was also co-produced by Joel Chapman. 5 Seconds of Summer released their first single "Out of My Limit" on 19 November 2012 and the video clip for the song received over 100,000 views within the first 24 hours. In December 2012, the boys embarked on a songwriting trip to London, writing with various artists including McFly, Roy Stride of Scouting for Girls, Nick Hodgson of Kaiser Chiefs, Jamie Scott, Jake Gosling, Steve Robson and James Bourne of Busted.

The quartet rose to international fame in early 2013, when One Direction invited them to join "Take Me Home Tour". The four-piece joined the boyband for shows in the U.K., U.S., Australia and New Zealand, including seven shows at Allphones Arena in 5 Seconds of Summer's home town of Sydney. On 21 November 2013, the band announced that they had signed to Capitol Records and in early 2014 they released their worldwide debut single "She Looks So Perfect" that reached the number one position in 39 countries.

In March 2014, it was announced that 5 Seconds of Summer will once again join One Direction on the road, supporting them on their 2014 "Where We Are Tour" in the U.S., Canada, U.K. and Europe. In the following month, their "She Looks So Perfect" EP debuted at number 2 on the Billboard 200. In May 2014, the band announced that their debut album, named "5 Seconds of Summer", would be released on 27 June 2014 in Europe and Australia. The album arrived in the U.S. and other countries on July 22.

After their self-titled debut set landed at No. 1 on Billboard 200, the band followed it up with a live album called "LIVESOS" which was led by a cover of "What I Like About You" by American rock band The Romantics.

To promote their music, the band embarked on their first headlining tour "Rock Out With Your Socks Out Tour". Opening in May 2015, the trek hit cities in Europe, Australia and New Zealand in addition to North America.

On July 17, 2015, the band began the era of their second album by releasing its lead single "She's Kinda Hot". A month later, they announced that the LP would be called "Sounds Good Feels Good" and would be released worldwide on October 23.

5 Seconds of Summer closed out the year by releasing a music video for "Jet Black Heart", the third single off "Sounds Good Feel Good". Due to the popularity of the song and its music video, the band won Best Music Video at Verato MTV Awards and Best Rock Song at Teen Choice Awards in 2016.

Also in the same year, the band embarked on their "Sounds Live Feels Live World Tour" in support of the album. The tour kicked off on February 19 in Nagoya, Japan and concluded on October 5 in Sydney, Australia. While hitting the road, they released a new single entitled "Girls Talk Boys", which served as the soundtrack to "Ghosbusters (2016)".

The band didn't release any new song in 2017, but they were featured on Japanese rock band One Ok Rock's "Take What You Want" off "Ambitions". A lyric video for the song was premiered on January 16. Preparing for the release of their third studio album "Youngblood", 5 Seconds of Summer unveiled the lead single "Want You Back" on February 22, 2018. The single peaked at No. 61 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart.

Following "Want You Back", the band released the second single as well as the title track off the effort on April 12. It became their second Australian No. 1 single in May. The album itself made its way out to stores on June 15 and debuted atop Billboard 200 chart. This made them become the first Australian act to have three No. 1 albums in the U.S. in addition to becoming the first band to have their first three full-length studio albums debut atop the chart.

In support of the album, the band will embark on "Meet You There" Tour which will hit 25 cities across North America. The trek will kick off in Toronto on August 27 and conclude in Los Angeles on October 12.