Green Day

Billie Joe Armstrong was born on February 17,1972. He was the youngest of six kids. He began his music career at age five, when he started singing in children's hospitals and nursing homes. At age ten or so, his father died of cancer. Billie's mother remarried a few years later and began waitressing to support the large family.Meanwhile, Mike Dirnt was having a pretty rough childhood. His mother was a heroin addict who gave him up for adoption not long after his May 4, 1972 birth. When Mike was seven, his adoptive parents split, and he was shuffled back and forth between his mother and his father. Tired of his rocky homelife, Mike moved out on his own at age fifteen. He lived with the Armstrong family for a little while, but later moved into a building full of punk rockers. He finished high school while living on his own, and took a job as a cook to support himself. Billie Joe later joined Mike and the two of them moved into an Oakland squat apartment. In 1987, the two fifteen year olds formed a band called "Sweet Children", and they began playing anywhere they could.In 1989, feeling that they had outgrown their original band name, they renamed the band "Green Day" after a song they had written about a day devoted to smoking pot.The band (Billie Joe on vocals and guitar; Mike on bass; and John Kiftmeyer on drums) decided to get serious, and they managed to get an audition for independent label Lookout Records. Within days, they were signed to the record company. They released their first album, 39/Smooth, and set out to tour the country. At the end of the first tour, Kiftmeyer quit the band. Billie Joe and Mike headed straight to the old punk squat and recruited seventeen year old Tre Cool (Frank Edwin Wright III) who had been playing drums professionally since the age of twelve. And from that moment on, the band we now know as "Green Day" was formed.

The Living End

The Living End originated in 1994 by friends Chris Cheney and Scott Owen. The band, (Chris on vocals and guitar; Scott on upright bass and vocals; and Trav Demsey on drums) managed themselves, and after a while, they began to get gigs around Melbourne, in their native Australia. The band was highly motivated and before long, in 1996, they found themselves opening for Green Day on a national tour. A short while later, The Living End released "Hellbound", their debut EP. The EP only featured eight songs, but it managed to get great attention from community radio stations.After the release of their second EP, "It's For Your Own Good", The Living End scored national radio attention with their song, "From Here On In". This radio airplay, along with great reviews, created a wider audience for the band.During a yearlong tour in 1997, the band quickly returned to the studio to record a few songs that they could sell on the road. The finished product was the "Second Solution/Prisoner of Society" single.By the time 1998 rolled around, "Prisoner of Society" had become a national hit. The Living End headed back to the studio and recorded their debut self titled album; 14 tracks of pop/punk/rock with a little bit of ska.In July of 1998, The Living End headed back out on tour, playing at the Warped Tour, as well as a few gigs in L.A.

Blink-182

Blink-182 formed in 1992 when bassist Mark Hoppus met former drummer Scott Raynor and guitarist Tom DeLonge through mutual friends, after he moved to San Diego to attend college. Their original moniker was Blink, until they recieved a phone call from the lawyer of another band with the same name. In order to avoid any trouble, the boys added the "182". A few years later, the band caught the eye of San Diego legend "O", who offered to produce Blink-182's debut album, Cheshire Cat. RCA cared enough about the debut to sign the band and in 1997, they released their second album, Dude Ranch, which sold 800,000 copies. In 1998, drummer Scott Raynor was replaced with Travis Barker (formerly of The Aquabats)and the band began work on their third album, Enema of the State, which was released in the summer of 1999.

Showoff

Frontman Chris Envy was singing before he could even talk. The young man, who sports a bright range of hair colors and multiple tatoos, lists everything from Elvis Costello to the female sex as his influences. He "picked up a guitar at 15 and never put it down". The other members of Showoff also picked up instruments early on. Bassist Dave Envy's father taught him to play the guitar, and lead guitarist Graham started playing in junior high school. Drummer Dan got a real early musical start, first picking up drumsticks in the fourth grade. Soon after the guys formed Showoff, the band scored a regular gig at a Chicago bowling alley called "Fireside Bowl". They managed to catch the eye of the alternative rock press, and before long they were opening for acts like Save Ferris and Goldfinger. Goldfinger's John Feldman even produced the band's self-titled debut album, which was released on July 13,1999.

MxPx

MxPx began when three kids named Mike, Yuri, and Andy decided to get together and form a band. They named the trio, Magnified Plaid. The band made a name for themselves by playing at parties and small, local venues. It was about this time that the name of the band changed. It all started when Andy started wearing a Magnified Plaid shirt that had the letters M.P. on it. The "M" for Magnified, and the "P" for Plaid. Between the letters were tiny little x's, instead of periods. The band adopted the little design on the shirt, from then on calling the band "MxPx". Over time, Tooth and Nail Records somehow obtained a demo from MxPx. They arranged an audition for the band, and within a short period of time, the guys were signed to a record contract. They soon released their first album, Pokinatcha. Eventually, Andy decided to leave the band, and was replaced with guitarist Tom Wisniewski. It wasn't long before MxPx had another album on the shelves. They released their second LP, entitled Teenage Politics. The album took off like a rocket, leaving plenty of smiling fans in its wake. The follow up to Teenage Politics was an alubm called On the Cover which featured cover songs from bands like, Joy Electric and AHA.