Boys Like Girls

2005–2006: Formation and early years

The group was formed in Andover, MA[4] in the final months of 2005, when vocalist Martin Johnson, formerly of the Boston act Fake ID/The Drive, wrote a handful of songs he wanted to record. He recruited bassist Bryan Donahue and drummer John Keefe. Keefe brought along lead guitarist Paul DiGiovanni, with whom he had recorded a brief demo, to complete theline-up. Some of the demos' titles were "Free", "If You Could See Me Now", "The Only Way That I Know How To Feel", and others. Some months later Keefe and DiGiovanni learned that they were distant cousins.[5][6] The group later changed their name to Boys Like Girls.

The quartet soon opened a PureVolume account to showcase their music, and uploaded a rough demo of "The Great Escape" and anacoustic rendition of "Thunder". By the end of the year, the group was on the No. 1 spot on the website's Top Unsigned Artists chart[7] and within a few months had completed nationwide tours with Cute Is What We Aim For, Hit the Lights, All Time Low, and Butch Walker.
Lead singer Martin Johnson

Eventually, in 2006, the popularity of the band was overheard by booking agent Matt Galle and recordproducer Matt Squire, who contacted the band about a future collaboration. With their full support, Boys Like Girls embarked on their first nationwide tour with A Thorn for Every Heart, Hit the Lights and Keating in late February 2006. Following the month-long venture, the group immediately entered the recording studio with Squire to record their debut album for Columbia Records/Red Ink.

During theirtime in the studio Squire introduced the band to another of his alumni, Cute Is What We Aim For, who offered Boys Like Girls an opening slot on their upcoming headlining tour. Once the album was recorded, Boys Like Girls played back-to-back tours, including the Cute Is What We Aim For tour in June, as well as a two week stint with Butch Walker in late July.[5] In between tours the band filmedtheir first music video for their album's lead single, "Hero/Heroine", directed by Mark Serao and Chris Vaglio of Grey Sky Films.[8]
[edit] 2006–2009: Self-titled album

On August 22, 2006, the eponymous Boys Like Girls was released. As of August 2008, the album has sold over 580,000 copies within the United States.[9] While, as the title might suggest, songs about boys liking girls clearlyprevail on the album, Johnson occasionally touched upon themes such as his mother's battle with cancer, leaving home, and promiscuous adolescents. Concerning the latter, he discussed the motivation behind the song "Dance Hall Drug":
“ So many kids are growing up too fast. 13 year olds are giving each other hand jobs in the back of the bus, 14 year olds are already drinking and partying, and kids spendmore time worried about growing up and being cool than they do actually growing up and being a kid.[10] ”

The song "On Top of the World" is about Johnson's late mother.

In 2007, they began with a short headlining run with Self Against City, after which the group joined Cobra Starship supporting a two-month Cartel tour in February. In between releasing their album's second single, "TheGreat Escape" (reaching No. 9 on the Pop 100), performing on Jimmy Kimmel Live on February 22, 2007, and eventually charting the Billboard 200 for the first time in April 2007, Boys Like Girls played their first international concerts during the Canadian leg of a North American tour with Hellogoodbye and the UK festival Give It A Name 2007.

In mid-2007, the group performed on the annual Vans WarpedTour for the first time and on July 31, 2007 the band reached the No. 1 spot on the MTV show Total Request Live. The following month, on August 20, 2007, Boys Like Girls members Johnson and DiGiovanni played a private show at 105.1 The Buzz radio station. They announced that they would be performing five shows in Japan and said how much Good Charlotte helped their career. In September 2007,...