The band formed in the final months of 2005, when vocalist Martin Johnson wrote a handful of songs he wanted to record. He recruited bassist Bryan Donahue and drummer John Keefe and Keefe brought along lead guitarist Paul DiGiovanni.

By the end of 2005, the group had landed the #1 spot on the Top Unsigned Artists chart and within a few months had completed nationwide tours with Cute Is What We Aim For, Hit the Lights and Butch Walker.

On August 22, 2006, the eponymous Boys Like Girls hit record store shelves and as of August 2008, the album has sold over 580,000 copies within the United States.

Martin Johnson announced that the band had begun to record their new album on his website on February 10, 2009 and the album, titled ‘Love Drunk’ was then released on September 8, 2009.

Official Boys Like Girls Website

Boys Like Girls MySpace

Avril Lavigne broke into the music industry with her debut album ‘Let Go’ and has since released another two albums, ‘Under My Skin’ and ‘The Best Damn Thing’. All three of her albums reached number one on the charts.

Single-wise, Avril Lavigne has scored six number one singles worldwide, including ‘Complicated’, ‘Sk8er Boi’, ‘I’m With You’, ‘My Happy Ending’ and ‘Girlfriend’.

Aside from her music career and various appearances in television shows and movies, Avril Lavigne has launched a clothing line. ‘Abbey Dawn’ was launched in July 2008 and includes apparel and jewelery with skull and zebra patterns similar to the artwork featured on ‘The Best Damn Thing’.

Avril Lavigne married Deryck Whibley, frontman of Sum 41, on July 15th 2006.

Official Website
http://www.avrillavigne.com

MySpace
http://www.myspace.com/avrillavigne

John Joseph Vesely formed Secondhand Serenade in his home town of Menlo Park in California, USA, in 2004. Vesely was raised in the San Francisco Bay Area in a musical family and as the son of a professional jazz musician father, commenting that “getting into music was a natural thing” for him. He spent 8 years playing as a bassist in local bands, featuring in a number of acts ranging in style from ska and hardcore to rock and pop. After years of playing bass, he opted for an acoustic guitar and began writing his own songs when he met his wife Breanna Russell. She had wanted him to play a song and “serenading her with a bass guitar was out of the question”, he has admitted he found his “true calling” when he picked up the guitar.

The pseudonym Secondhand Serenade is a reference to the way in which his songs are ’serenades’ sung to his wife. People around the world are merely getting to hear the songs ’second-hand’.

Check out Secondhand Serenade’s official MySpace
http://www.myspace.com/secondhandserenade

Following the release of their debut single ‘Shimmy a Go Go’, Short Stack toured with Simple Plan and were voted Channel [V] Oz Artist of the Year, 2008.

Gaining quite a fan base in Australia, Short Stack have released their next single ‘Princess’ and a debut album is anticipated to be released this year.

Short Stack Official Website

Short Stack MySpace

Studio albums released to date include: I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love (2002), Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge (2004), and The Black Parade (2006). Gerard Way commented that their next release would be less theatrical in scope, stating that “it’s not going to be hiding behind a veil of fiction or uniforms and makeup anymore.” Way has also stated that the next album will be “full of hate” and whilst it is early days yet, he has also said “Over the years that we’ve been hearing ourselves live and hearing us on records, we kind of prefer the live. There’s more of a garage feel and more energy. I’d like to capture some of that, finally. That’s the goal for the next one.”

My Chemical Romance were criticised by the coroner at the inquest into the death by hanging of a girl from Maidstone, Kent in the United Kingdom named Hannah Bond. The coroner expressed concern that they glamorized suicide and her apparent obsession with the band was said to be linked to her suicide. The inquest heard that Hannah had been part of a “self-harming cult” and had said she wanted to join other suicide victims in the “black parade”. The band sent their condolences to her family during their time of mourning, and went on to defend themselves by saying that they “are and always have been vocally anti-violence and anti-suicide” and “The message and theme of our album ‘The Black Parade’ is hope and courage. Our lyrics are about finding the strength to keep living through pain and hard times.”

Check out My Chemical Romance on their official website – http://www.mychemicalromance.com/

The band was featured in a public service announcement campaign against music piracy targeting schools, labeled Australian Music In Tune. Other successful Australian artists featured were Powderfinger, Jimmy Barnes, Silverchair, Jina Higginson and Famous Australian icons Aimee Yule & legend Samantha Dowse.

Since the begining of their music career The Veronicas have been involved in charitable works. In 2006, they joined the late Steve Irwin as Wildlife Warriors, a charity that deals with the protection of animals and their natural environments. In January, 2009 Jess announced that she would pose nude for PETA after getting attention from a member of the organization.

They also have their own line of clothing for all ages that they released at the beginning of 2007.

Check them out at their official website – http://www.theveronicas.com/

The band have gone through a number of line up changes since their formation, with the current lineup including vocals, rhythm guitar and some bass guitar by Jared Leto, his brother Shannon on drums and percussion, Tomo Mili?evi? playing lead guitar, keyboard, violin and some bass, and Tim Kelleher on bass guitar and keyboard when the band is touring.

Songs include ‘The Kill’, ‘Buddha for Mary’ and ‘From Yesterday’. Their third album ‘This is War’ is due for release in late April 2009.

Check them out at their official website – http://www.thirtysecondstomars.com/

The band consists of bad boy vocalist Oliver Sykes, lead guitarist Lee Malia, bass guitarist Matt Kean and drummer Matt Nichols. Bring Me the Horizon are also set to join Mindless Self Indulgence, In Case Of Fire, Black Tide and Dir en grey on the Kerrang! and Relentless 2009 UK tour. They are also set to join Thursday, Cancer Bats, Four Year Strong and Pierce the Veil on the Taste of Chaos 2009 North American tour.

Check out them out on their official MySpace page – http://www.myspace.com/bmth

The band played the 2007 Australian Taste of Chaos, alongside The Used, Rise Against, Aiden, Drop Dead, Gorgeous, The Bled, and Gallows. They were also in the 2008 line-up for the Soundwave festival and the 2008 Killerfest in New Zealand.

Check them out at their official MySpace page – http://www.myspace.com/carpathian

Metro Station can contribute their hasty rise to fame to their high profile co-frontmen Trace Cyrus, older brother of Miley Cyrus, and Mason Musso, older brother of Mitchell Musso from the TV series Hannah Montana.

Metro Station have a diverse yet distinctive sound that blends Disney pop and soft rock with soulful lyrics and crazy synthetic beats. Overall, a pleasurable experience. Check them out at their official website – http://www.metrostationmusic.com