+44 Biography

An alternative rock act originally intended to be a largely electronic-based project which was named after the international dialing code for the U.K, +44 was formed by two founding members of Blink-182, drummer Travis Barker and lead vocalist also bassist Mark Hoppus. The establishment of the band began to take shape right after the announcement of Blink-182's indefinite hiatus in February 2005 when the pair realized that they actually still wanted to keep working in music under the same roof. Wanting to materialize the desire, both of them quickly decided to get back as a union to then write and record songs together before finally fixing their mind to make demos.

Later adding Carol Heller, former vocalist and guitarist of Get the Girl and Goodbye Radar, Barker and Hoppus delightfully managed to record sixteen new compositions by September 2005. The joy was doubled when the troupe made their way to purchase studio in the following month where they were finally able to play live drums also loud guitars and vocals which in the end became the key elements of the band's sound. In quite a short time, the troupe smoothly came up with their first song titled 'No It Isn't' and proudly submitted it on their website late that year.

From a trio it became a quartet with the addition of The Nervous Return's ex-lead guitarist Shane Gallagher in early 2006. However, amidst the good progress, Heller sadly viewed herself to not fitting well with the +44's direction and so, decided to walk out the lineup for good in the middle of the band's effort to make their debut album. Stunned but not devastated, the remaining members persistently continued the work while trying to find Heller's replacement whom they ultimately found in Transplants' former rhythm guitarist, Craig Fairbaugh after going about three-quarters of the way through recording. Everything looked rather velvety afterwards for the group as they successfully posted another single, "Lycanthrope", on their site followed by early gigs at the Roxy Theatre in Hollywood and at the Astoria in London, both drawing in very encouraging reactions from fans.

The buzz surrounding +44 that have come to the surface since the events, eventually reached its peak when the band optimistically released their next single "When Your Heart Stops Beating" on iTunes on October 3, 2006. Much to their delight, the tune did not take long time to soar to the top 20 of Billboard's Hot Modern Rock Tracks while also entering two other charts of Hot Digital Songs and Pop 100. This initial attainment in turn provided enough confidence for the foursome to at last launch their long-delayed album, also titled "When Your Heart Stops Beating", on November 14, the same year in the States under Interscope Records. It went straight to #10 on the Billboard 200 chart with about 66,000 copies sold in its first week. While tour and gigs were served, it is often that the band cancelled their performances, sparking rumors that they will split. However in October 2007, Hoppus confirmed that they have signed a contract with Interscope to do a second studio album.