theStart (stylized as theSTART) is an American rock band from Los Angeles, California.

History

Aimee Echo Aimee Echo ( né Rodrigues; born March 27, 1970) is an American singer. She rose to prominence as the singer of Human Waste Project, who she fronted between 1994 until the band's dissolution in 1998. Afterwards, she became the frontwoman of th ...

and Jamie Miller formed the band in 1998, originally named Hero. They changed it to theStart on October 31, 1999, because "Hero" was already being used by many other bands. Their starting lineup included Echo on vocals, Miller on bass and synths, Scott Ellis (who played with Echo in

Human Waste Project Human Waste Project was an American alternative metal band from Huntington Beach, California. It was formed in December 1993 by bassist Jeff Schartoff and guitarist Roman Marisak, and after going through several shifts in personnel, the band's ...

) on drums and Mike Smith on guitars. When Smith left the band in October 2000 to pursue other musical interests, Jamie switched over from bass to guitars, and Jeff Jaeger was hired as the band's new bassist. Their debut album, '' Shakedown!'', was released in July 2001 through The Label Records, a record label imprint of The Firm, Inc., with distribution from

Geffen Records Geffen Records (formerly The David Geffen Company from 1980 to 1992 and Geffen Records Inc. from 1993 to 2004) is an American record label, founded in late 1980 by David Geffen. Originally a music subsidiary of the company known as Geffen Pi ...

. Following a period of touring, they discovered that their record label was closing. The band decided to fund their next EP themselves, releasing ''The 1234'' in April 2002 and selling it at their shows. Shortly thereafter, they announced the departure of Scott Ellis. While spending the summer touring with

Scarling. Scarling. was an American noise pop band formed in Los Angeles in 2001. The band consisted of lead vocalist Jessicka Addams and guitarist Christian Hejnal. Name The band's name comes from a fictional word created by singer/fine artist Jessicka i ...

, they found a distributor in

Small Stone Records Small Stone Records is an American record label based in Detroit, MI. It was founded in 1995 by Scott Hamilton and is a self-dubbed "heavy rock" label. The label has released a number of stoner rock compilation albums, as well as releases by ...

for a self-titled EP. Jaeger left the group some time after Ellis did. Over the next year, the group found replacements, bringing in Erick Sanger and Billy Brimblecon Jr. With their new lineup, the group was signed to

Nitro Records Nitro Records was an American independent record label, founded in 1994 and operated by The Offspring's Dexter Holland and Greg K. Nitro is famous for being an incubator for punk rock artists who have subsequently become successful, most notab ...

in October 2003, which re-released their self-titled EP as ''Death Via Satellite''. Over the next year they recorded a new album, and ''Initiation'' was released on August 24, 2004. Brimblecon left the group shortly before the release of ''Initiation'', and the album's supporting tour featured a number of interim drummers, including

Adrian Young Adrian Samuel Young (born August 26, 1969) is an American musician, best known as the drummer of the rock bands No Doubt and Dreamcar. He also serves as a producer in his free time. Biography When not performing, in the studio or touring, Youn ...

(of

No Doubt No Doubt is an American rock band formed in Anaheim, California in 1986. For most of its career, the band has consisted of vocalist and founding member Gwen Stefani, guitarist Tom Dumont, bassist Tony Kanal and drummer Adrian Young. Keyboar ...

) and Frank Zummo (of

Sum 41 Sum 41 was a Canadian rock band formed in Ajax, Ontario, in 1996. The band's final lineup consisted of Deryck Whibley (lead vocals, guitars, keyboards), Dave Baksh (lead guitar, backing vocals), Jason McCaslin (bass, backing vocals), Tom T ...

). Chelsea Davis was later selected as a permanent replacement. Later, in 2006, Sanger was let go from the group, replaced by Lance Webber. The group changed labels in 2007, moving from Nitro to their current label,

Metropolis Records Metropolis Records is a record label that was founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania ...

. Later that year, they released ''Ciao, Baby''. After Lance Webber returned to college in 2009, Aimee, Jamie and Chelsea started a side project called Normandie, and toured as a trio. In 2015, Miller became the drummer for

Bad Religion Bad Religion is an American punk rock band, formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1980. The band's lyrics cover topics related to religion, politics, society, the media and science. Musically, they are noted for their melodic sensibilities and ...

, replacing the band's longtime drummer,

Brooks Wackerman Brooks Wackerman (born February 15, 1977) is an American musician. He is the current drummer of heavy metal band Avenged Sevenfold, which he joined in 2015. His first album with Avenged Sevenfold was ''The Stage'' (2016). He was previously th ...

. In 2017, the band released a 7-inch single for "Yvonne DeCarlo" and "Magic Number".

Band members

Current members *

– lead vocals (1998–present) * Jamie Miller – bass (1998–2000), guitar (2000–present), synth, backing vocals (1998–present) Former members * Mike Smith – guitar (1998–2000) *Jeff Jaeger – bass, backing vocals (2000–2002) *Erick Sanger – bass, backing vocals (2003–2006) *Scott Ellis – drums (1998–2002) * Billy Brimblecom Jr. – drums (2003–2004, 2019–2020) *Chelsea Davis – drums (2007–2012) Touring members *

– drums (2004, 2006) *

Frank Zummo Franklin Charles Zummo (born July 2, 1978) is an American musician, best known as the drummer for rock bands Sum 41 and Street Drum Corps. Career Zummo is one of the founding members of Street Drum Corps. He has performed as the drummer for s ...

– drums (2004–2006) * Lance Webber – bass (2006–2009) *??? – bass (2019–2020) Timeline

Discography

Studio albums EPs Singles Music videos

References

External links

* *
theSTART on Last.fmtheStart at Metropolis Records
{{DEFAULTSORT:Start Alternative rock groups from California Metropolis Records artists Musical groups established in 1998 Nitro Records artists Geffen Records artists