The Driver Era is an American music duo consisting of brothers Rocky and

Ross Lynch Ross Shor Lynch (born December 29, 1995) is an American actor and singer. He was the lead vocalist of the pop rock band R5 and is one half of the band the Driver Era (with his brother Rocky Lynch). As an actor, he rose to recognition for his ...

. Both are former members of the now defunct R5.

History

2018–2022: R5 to The Driver Era, ''X'', ''Girlfriend'' and ''Summer Mixtape''

On March 1, 2018, R5's

Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

and

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

handles were changed to The Driver Era and all of R5's previous posts were deleted. On March 2, 2018, Ross announced via Instagram story that The Driver Era would be a band consisting of him and his brother Rocky. On the same day as their social media changes, previews of their debut single "Preacher Man" were posted on Twitter and Instagram. The name 'The Driver Era' came from a conversation between Rocky and Ross during a car ride to a party, and the brothers agreed that this name encompassed where their music was headed. On March 16, 2018, they released "Preacher Man", along with its video a few weeks later. This single was met with high amounts of praise from the alternative/indie music scene. The video was based around a mixture of religions and sins. "Preacher Man" became the band's iconic song from the offing, the band having only released that song for a long period of time. The band also teased "Mary Jane", a song which was performed by Rocky but has never been released. This song was suspected to be their next single but that never came around. On May 25, 2018, The Driver Era released two special remixes of "Preacher Man". On August 24, 2018, The Driver Era released a new single, "Afterglow", originally being released via YouTube before eventually being put onto Spotify. Along this period, the band also leaked their own song "My Silver Lining Is Overdue", a track which was due to be used in the film "Turnover" featuring band member and brother, Riker Lynch. On October 26, 2018, The Driver Era released a new single, "Low", followed by a special remix a few months later. "Low" was popular for being the band's first official single that was sung by guitarist and producer Rocky Lynch, as opposed to by being sung by vocalist Ross Lynch. On March 29, 2019, The Driver Era released a new single, "Feel You Now", followed by its video a few weeks later. This came after the band teased multiple songs throughout a YouTube video titled "Haven't left the garage" including "Feel You now", "Welcome To The End Of Your Life", "San Francisco" and "Scared of Heights". Alongside those 4 songs was an unnamed song that is yet to be revealed. On April 26, 2019, The Driver Era released a new single, "Welcome to the End of your Life", followed by its video a few weeks later. This was a song the band had teased multiple times throughout 2019 up until the point of release, revealing how it was a song that excited them during the production. On June 13, 2019, The Driver Era premiered their new music video for "Low" and announced their debut studio album, titled " X". The album was released on June 28, 2019, including the previous singles and a handful of new songs that had previously been performed on the tour. On October 25, 2019, The Driver Era released two singles, "A Kiss" and "Forever Always". On April 2, 2020, The Driver Era released the singles "OMG Plz Don’t Come Around" and "Flashdrive", from their upcoming second album, rumored to be released in the late summer, which would later be delayed primarily due to the COVID-19 pandemic putting strains on the band's 'creative juices'. On April 23, 2021, during a YouTube Live dedicated to MTV Friday Livestream's 1st birthday, The Driver Era announced their new single "Heaven Angel", to be released within the following four weeks. Weeks later, the band released "#1 Fan" and "Leave Me Feeling Confident" before finally announcing and then releasing "

Girlfriend A girlfriend is a woman who is a friend, acquaintance or partner to the speaker, usually a female companion with whom one is platonically, romantically, or sexually involved. In a romantic context, this normally signifies a committed r ...

", their second studio album. Following by "The Girlfriend Tour" with dates in US, Asia, Australia and Europe in both 2021 and 2022. On June 30, 2022, The Driver Era released a new single, "Keep Moving Forward" featuring

Nikka Costa Domenica "Nikka" Costa (born June 4, 1972) is an American singer whose music combines elements of pop, soul, and blues. She also had a career as a child singer starting in the early 1980s. She is the daughter of music producer Don Costa. Ear ...

, and "Malibu" on July 28, 2022. On August 4, 2022, The Driver Era announced their third studio album, titled " Summer Mixtape", which released on September 16, 2022.

2023–present: ''Obsession''

On October 20, 2023, The Driver Era released a new single "

Rumors A rumor (American English), or rumour (British English; American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, see spelling differences; derived from Latin 'noise'), is an unverified piece of information circulating among people, especial ...

". Later, on February 22, 2024, the band dropped a new song, " Get Off My Phone". They followed that up with another single, " You Keep Me Up at Night", on September 4, 2024, which served as the lead single for the upcoming album. The band announced their fourth studio album, "

Obsession Obsession may refer to: Psychology * Celebrity worship syndrome, obsessive addictive disorder to a celebrity's personal and professional life * Obsession (psychology), a persistent attachment to an object or idea * Fixation (psychology), persist ...

" at a London show September 2024 via a QR code with a February 14, 2025 release. On October 23, 2024, the band released "Don't Walk Away" as the second single from the album. On December 17, 2024, the band released their third single "

Touch The somatosensory system, or somatic sensory system is a subset of the sensory nervous system. The main functions of the somatosensory system are the perception of external stimuli, the perception of internal stimuli, and the regulation of bo ...

" off their upcoming album. On January 28, 2025, a fourth single " Same Old Story" was released alongside the cover, tracklist and updated release date for "Obsession" of April 11, 2025.

Band members

Current members

(2018–present) –

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of the ...

rhythm guitar In music performances, rhythm guitar is a guitar technique and role that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse (music), pulse in conjunction with other instruments from the rhythm section (e.g., d ...

* Rocky Lynch (2018–present) –

lead guitar Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featur ...

vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

Touring members

;Current *

Riker Lynch Riker Anthony Lynch (born November 8, 1991) is an American singer and actor. He was previously cast as Jeff, one of the members of the Dalton Academy Warblers singing group, on Fox's television series '' Glee''. He finished in second place on ...

(2018–present) –

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are us ...

* Dave Briggs (2021-present) –

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

* Garrison Jones (2022–present) – keyboards,

Ellington Ratliff Ellington Lee Ratliff (born April 14, 1993) is an American drummer and actor. He is best known as the drummer of pop rock band R5, which was active from 2009 until 2018, and as a contributor to The Driver Era. Early life Ellington Lee Ratli ...

(2018–2019; 2022; One-Off in 2023) –

, (2024-present)-

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

, keyboards,

;Former * Rydel Lynch (2018–2021; One-Off in 2022, 2023) – keyboards,

*Chase Meyer (2020–2021) –

Discography

Studio albums

Live albums

Extended plays

Singles

As lead artist

Promotional singles

Guest appearances

Music videos

Tours

Headlining

* The Driver Era Live! (2019) * The Girlfriend Tour (2021–2022) * Live on Tour '22 (2022) * 2024 Tour (2024) * X Girlfriend Tour (2024) * Obsession Tour (2025)

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Driver Era American pop music duos Musical groups established in 2018 R5 (band) American male musical duos Sibling musical duos 2018 establishments in California