Grouplove

Formation (2009–10)

Grouplove formed out of a friendship among the five members of the band. Hooper met Zucconi on the Lower East Side of Manhattan after hearing and enjoying his music from his former band ALOKE. Despite having just met, Hooper invited Zucconi to an artist residency in Crete she was leaving for later that week. It was at the Ikarus artist commune in the village of Avdou where they met the rest of the band, Andrew Wessen, Ryan Rabin, and Sean Gadd. Rabin, an accomplished drummer and producer, grew up in Los Angeles with Wessen, a surfer and guitarist. Rabin comes from a musical family – his father is Trevor Rabin, former guitarist of Yes. Sean Gadd, a songwriter and guitarist from London, was also at the commune. The friendship between the members formed quickly, but the band did not form until a year later after Gadd, Zucconi and Hooper pooled their funds together and made a trip to Rabin's Los Angeles recording studio. They played their first show at El Cid in Los Angeles on May 10, 2010. Later that year, the band went on tour with Florence and The Machine on the west coast, and then The Joy Formidable on the east coast. By November, Nylon Magazine recognized Grouplove as one of the top ten in the "Best New Bands in 2010."

Before even signing with Canvasback/Atlantic Records the band was in a money rut and had to license the song "Getaway Car" to HBO's "How to Make it In America" just to get by. Eventually the band was signed and decided to re-release their self-titled EP, Grouplove, on January 25, 2011. In 2011, the band co-headlined a cross-country tour with Foster the People, and made appearances at Lollapalooza, Outside Lands, Reading and Leeds Festivals, and Glastonbury.

Never Trust a Happy Song and Spreading Rumours (2011–2016)

The band released its debut album, Never Trust a Happy Song, on September 13, 2011 through Canvasback/Atlantic Records. They released 4 singles from the album – Colours (which featured on the FIFA 12 game), "Tongue Tied" (which went on to score the band a no. 1 on the US Alternative Chart and featured in several commercials (including one for Apple, and one for Coca-Cola) and an episode of Fox's Glee) Lovely Cup and Itchin On A Photograph. In support of their debut album, the band went on a headlining North American Fall tour and also performed with Two Door Cinema Club as their main support. In December, the band performed at KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas, which takes place at the Gibson Amphitheatre, in Universal City. On January 3, 2012 the band kicked off their sold-out headline tour in Australia at the Factory Theatre in Sydney and continued their tour in Europe in February. The band began their US Spring 2012 tour on March 6 in Burlington, VT in support of Young The Giant. Throughout the sold-out headline tour the band had featured stops at Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, Sasquatch! Music Festival, and Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival.

Grouplove kicked off their Close Your Eyes and Count to Tour Tour on September 25, 2012 at the Roseland Theater in Portland, Oregon, traveling across the country with Alt-J and MS MR as support. Close Your Eyes and Count to Tour Tour ended on November 17, 2012 at the Wiltern in Los Angeles, California.

On Apr 20, 2013, Grouplove released a "Make It To Me" in collaboration with Manchester Orchestra. They announced their second album, as well as debuting the video for the lead single, "Ways To Go", on 10 June 2013.

On September 17, 2013, Grouplove's second album, Spreading Rumours, was released. That same day, Grouplove played a sold out show at the Troubadour in West Hollywood with supporting Australian band, The Rubens. The band then embarked on an 18-show US tour, the Seesaw Tour, on which they played in 9 cities, with two dates in each city – one a more standard show, the other a more stripped back show. They were supported on this tour by The Rubens.

In late 2013, Grouplove started touring with Daniel Gleason. This was temporary and was to allow Sean Gadd to do other work. Although rumors circulated that he left the band, he stated on Twitter that he was still part of Grouplove. Gleason then toured with the band on their 2014 US tour, on which they were supported by MS MR, and their subsequent European tour, on which they were supported by FEMME for the UK dates.

On April 22, 2014, Sean Gadd tweeted, "Thanks for all the love. Grouplove is family and still my favorite band. Sending love. GROUP", leaving his status with the band up in the air. He has posted a song on YouTube called "Dream With Me". On June 19, 2014, Sean Gadd tweeted a series of tweets about his status in the band, the last one officially confirmed his leaving of the band, "I'm so sorry I made a big mistake. I'm making an announcement of why I'm leaving grouplove forever x." This was followed by a post on the band's website officially announcing his departure.

The band played at several festivals in 2014, including Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza, Firefly and Coachella, and will headline the Honda Civic tour in late August/early September, supported by Portugal. The Man. While on tour that year, they performed a cover of Beyoncé's hit single, "Drunk In Love".

In 2014, Grouplove released I'm With You, a short form tour documentary about the band. The documentary featured performances from the New York Seesaw Tour shows and a digital album of six songs is set for release by Atlantic.

The band have contributed original songs "Let Me In", to the soundtrack for the movie The Fault In Our Stars. They also contributed an original song, "Everyone's Gonna Get High", to an episode of the second season of the HBO series Girls; and another song, "Underground", to the 2012 Tim Burton movie Frankenweenie. In 2014, they provided the end title song for the Netflix original series BoJack Horseman and the song "No Drama Queen" for Paper Towns.

Big Mess (2016–present)

Grouplove released their third studio album, Big Mess, on September 9, 2016. On July 15, 2016, the band released the lead single from the album, "Welcome to Your Life". The band also announced a world tour which began in August 2016.

Chart success

Grouplove's first single, "Colours", reached number 15 on Modern Rock charts. It was also featured in Madden NFL 12, FIFA 12, and MLB 2K12. The song was also offered as a free download on iTunes for the week beginning September 12, 2011.

Grouplove's song "Itchin' On a Photograph" also rose to fame after Eutechnyx used it in the 2012 game NASCAR The Game: Inside Line

In November 2011, the band’s second single "Tongue Tied" appeared in an iPod Touch commercial. The song steadily grew in popularity, and, after 26 consecutive weeks on the Modern Rock radio chart, hit #1 in June 2012. "Tongue Tied" has been RIAA certified Platinum and sold over 1,000,000 singles to date in the US, and has gone gold in Australia and Canada too. "Tongue Tied" was also used and performed by the cast of Fox's Glee in a May episode of the series, and also featured in a Coca-Cola advertisement. It also appears in the Gameloft racing game GT Racing 2: The Real Car Experience. Later it was used in the movies Blended with Adam Sandler, and Project Almanac.

In the voting for Australia's Hottest 100 presented by Triple J, "Tongue Tied" was voted #16th and Itchin' on a Photograph at #43 best song's of 2012.

The third single off of Never Trust a Happy Song, "Itchin' on a Photograph" went to top 10 at Modern Rock radio. "Itchin' on a Photograph" was featured on the NASCAR The Game: Inside Line soundtrack.

Their song "Don't Stop Making it Happen" featured in EA Sports video game, FIFA 17. Which was previously success with "I'm With You" in FIFA 14.

Band members

Current members

Former members

EPs