State Champs is an American

pop punk Pop punk (or punk pop) is a rock music genre that combines elements of punk rock with power pop or pop. It is defined for its emphasis on classic pop songcraft, as well as adolescent and anti-suburbia themes, and is distinguished from other pu ...

band from

Albany, New York Albany ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of New York, also the seat and largest city of Albany County. Albany is on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River, and about north of New York City ...

, formed in 2010. They are currently signed to

Pure Noise Records Pure Noise Records is an American punk rock record label based in Nashville, Tennessee. It was founded by Jake Round in 2009 while he was an editor at ''AMP''; the previous fall, friends of his in the band No Bragging Rights told him they were l ...

and have released three EPs and four full-length albums. They released an acoustic EP titled ''The Acoustic Things'' in October 2014 and their second full-length album ''

Around the World and Back ''Around the World and Back'' is the second studio album from American pop punk band State Champs. Background On February 13, the began recording their next album. Recording lasted for 38 days. On March 27, it was announced that the group had fin ...

'' one year later, in October 2015. In May 2017, they released a deluxe version of their album ''

'', along with a DVD of footage from their last few tours. Their 2013 full-length, ''

The Finer Things ''The Finer Things'' is a compilation album box set of recordings by Steve Winwood. It includes songs from his early days with The Spencer Davis Group through Traffic and Blind Faith and into his work during his solo career. Track listing Dis ...

'', debuted at number 2 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' Heatseekers Albums chart.Charts
Allmusic Their third album, '' Living Proof'', was released in 2018. In May 2022, the band released their fourth studio album, ''Kings of the New Age''.

History

Formation and early releases (2010–2012)

State Champs formed in the spring of 2010 in

by founding members lead guitarist Tyler Szalkowski and lead singer Derek DiScanio. Shortly after forming, they self-released ''EP 2010'' in August, which was followed by their second self-released EP, ''Apparently, I'm Nothing'', in January 2011. This EP contained several new songs and ''2010 EP'' in its entirety. In July, the band toured with The Tired and True and Call It Fiction. In April 2012, interest in a demo of "Critical" helped the band gain a recording contract, a management company and a booking agency.Walker 2015, p. 45 On April 19, it was announced that the band signed to

Pure Noise Pure Noise Records is an American punk rock record label based in Nashville, Tennessee. It was founded by Jake Round in 2009 while he was an editor at ''AMP''; the previous fall, friends of his in the band No Bragging Rights told him they were ...

. In mid-June, the group recorded their next EP with Jay Maas at Getaway Recording Studio. "Critical" was made available for streaming on July 12. In July and August, the band toured with With the Punches and

Forever Came Calling Forever Came Calling is an American pop punk band from Twentynine Palms, California. History The band formed in the year 2006 as a Senses Fail and Taking Back Sunday cover band. After multiple line up changes, John Swaba joined as bassist. They ...

on The PropertyOfZack Tour. "Remedy" was made available for streaming on August 9. The band released the ''Overslept'' EP in September through Pure Noise. In September and October, the band supported

Handguns A handgun is a short- barrelled gun, typically a firearm, that is designed to be usable with only one hand. It is distinguished from a long gun (i.e. rifle, shotgun or machine gun, etc.), which needs to be held by both hands and also braced ...

, then supported Citizen the following month. The band toured alongside Hit the Lights,

A Loss for Words A Loss for Words (formerly Last Ride) was an American pop punk band from Abington, Massachusetts. History Early years (1999–2004) Matty Arsenault and Danny Poulin from Lions Lions started a new band, Last Ride Pony Rides and, in 1999, it woul ...

and With the Punches in December. The group then supported

Vanna Vanna () is a given name that first appeared in recorded European history circa 1294. The Italian medieval feminine name originated in Tuscany, and is particular to Florence, Italy. Though similar in pronunciation to the Italian name Giovanna, an ...

on their holiday tour, dubbed Home for the Holidays.

''The Finer Things'' and ''The Acoustic Things'' (2013–2015)

Originally, the band was supposed to support

Chunk! No, Captain Chunk! Chunk! No, Captain Chunk! (also known by the acronym C!NCC!) is a French rock band formed in 2007 in Paris. The band consists of vocalist Bertrand Poncet, guitarists Éric Poncet and Paul Wilson and bassist Mathias Rigal, with founding drummer Jo ...

on their Pardon My French Tour in March and April 2013; instead Chunk! No, Captain Chunk! went on tour with

A Day to Remember A Day to Remember (often abbreviated ADTR, and previously known as End of an Era) is an American rock band from Ocala, Florida, founded in 2003 by guitarist Tom Denney and drummer Bobby Scruggs. They are known for their amalgamation of meta ...

, resulting in State Champs supporting Handguns on their Pardon My Angst tour in March. The band finished recording their debut full-length with producer Sam Pura at The Panda Studios and co-producer and former

New Found Glory New Found Glory (formerly A New Found Glory) is an American rock band from Coral Springs, Florida, formed in 1997. The band currently consists of Jordan Pundik (lead vocals), Ian Grushka (bass guitar), Chad Gilbert (lead guitar, backing vocal ...

guitarist Steve Klein in

Fremont, CA Fremont is a city in Alameda County, California, United States. Located in the East Bay region of the Bay Area, Fremont has a population of 230,504 as of 2020, making it the fourth most populous city in the Bay Area, behind San Jose, San Fran ...

in May 2013. The group supported

on their west coast tour in June, before supporting

Cartel A cartel is a group of independent market participants who collude with each other in order to improve their profits and dominate the market. Cartels are usually associations in the same sphere of business, and thus an alliance of rivals. Mos ...

. Their debut full-length album, ''The Finer Things'', was released on October 8, 2013. It debuted at #2 on the

Heatseekers chart, selling a little over 3,100 copies in the first week of release. To support the album, the band supported

Motion City Soundtrack Motion City Soundtrack is an American rock band that formed in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1997. The band's line-up consists of vocalist and guitarist Justin Courtney Pierre, lead guitarist Joshua Cain, keyboardist Jesse Johnson, bassist Matthew ...

and Bayside on a fall tour in North America. The band spent a majority of 2014 touring in support of ''The Finer Things''. The band started their busy 2014 schedule in March with their first full United States tour, opening for We Are The In Crowd, William Becket, Set It Off and Candy Hearts. Shortly after completing this tour, the band headed on tour overseas for the first time to support

pop-punk Pop punk (or punk pop) is a rock music genre that combines elements of punk rock with power pop or pop. It is defined for its emphasis on classic pop songcraft, as well as adolescent and anti-suburbia themes, and is distinguished from other pu ...

band

The Wonder Years ''The Wonder Years'' is an American coming-of-age comedy/drama television series created by Neal Marlens and Carol Black. It ran on ABC from January 31, 1988, until May 12, 1993. The series premiered immediately after ABC's coverage of Super ...

and

. The tour routed throughout the UK and mainland Europe. The band performed on the ''Kevin Says'' stage for the 2014 installment of the

Vans Warped Tour The Warped Tour was a traveling rock tour that toured the United States plus three or four stops in Canada annually each summer from 1995 until 2019. It was the largest traveling music festival in the United States and the longest-running touring ...

occasionally playing the main ''Kia Soul'' stage. During the tour, it was announced that the band would also be co-headlining the 2014

Tour with

, with support from

, Front Porch Step, Heart to Heart and Brigades. On October 7, 2014, the band released an acoustic EP titled ''The Acoustic Things'' which featured acoustic versions of five tracks from ''The Finer Things'' as well as two new songs.

''Around the World and Back'' (2015–2017)

The band opened for

All Time Low All Time Low is an American rock band from Towson, Maryland, formed in 2003. Consisting of lead vocalist/rhythm guitarist Alex Gaskarth, lead guitarist Jack Barakat, bassist/backing vocalist Zack Merrick, and drummer Rian Dawson, the band too ...

on their ''Future Hearts'' tour in spring 2015, and then opened for 5 Seconds of Summer's ''Rock Out With Your Socks Out Tour'' in June 2015 in Australia and New Zealand. On July 15, the band announced their second album, ''Around the World and Back'', would be released on October 16; by November, the album had reached number 30 on the US ''Billboard'' Top 200 albums chart. The band began a co-headlining world tour in the UK with

Neck Deep Neck Deep are a Welsh pop punk band from Wrexham, Wales formed in 2012. Founded after vocalist Ben Barlow met former lead guitarist Lloyd Roberts, the pair posted a song ("What Did You Expect?") online under the name Neck Deep. The song soon ga ...

in February 2016, with support from Creeper and

Light Years A light-year, alternatively spelled light year, is a large unit of length used to express astronomical distances and is equivalent to about 9.46 trillion kilometers (), or 5.88 trillion miles ().One trillion here is taken to be 1012 ...

. The tour continued in the US and Canada in February and March with support from

Knuckle Puck Knuckle Puck is an American rock band, formed in 2010 in the suburbs of Chicago, Illinois. The group released several EPs, one of which, '' While I Stay Secluded'' (2014), peaked at number 5 on the Heatseekers Albums chart. The band released a sp ...

and Like Pacific. Official music videos were produced for two of the album's singles, "All You Are Is History" and "Secrets". While touring with

in March, both bands also appeared on the cover of that month's issue of

Alternative Press Magazine ''Alternative Press'' is an American entertainment magazine primarily focused on music and culture, now based in Los Angeles, CA. It generally provides readers with band interviews, photos, and relevant news. It was founded in 1985 by Mike Shea ...

. After their co-headlining US tour, the band then supported

with

Parkway Drive Parkway Drive is an Australian metalcore band from Byron Bay, New South Wales, formed in 2003. As of 2018, Parkway Drive have released six studio albums, one EP, two DVDs, a split album and one book, titled ''Ten Years of Parkway Drive''. The ...

on the Just Some Shows tour in the US during the month of May 2016. It was then announced that State Champs would once again be joining the 2016

for the entire length of the tour, mainly playing on the Journeys Right Foot Stage. Post Warped Tour, State Champs made an appearance at an intimate acoustic show with Sleeping with Sirens on August 25. The show took place at London's Union Chapel as a warm-up show prior to a festival appearance. That same weekend they then opened the main stage at

Reading and Leeds Festivals The Reading and Leeds Festivals are a pair of annual music festivals that take place in Reading and Leeds in England. The events take place simultaneously on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the August bank holiday weekend. The Reading Festiv ...

, in England. In addition to touring and festival appearances, the band also contributed to "Rock Sound Presents: The Black Parade", a compilation of

My Chemical Romance My Chemical Romance (commonly abbreviated to MCR or My Chem) is an American rock band from Newark, New Jersey. The band's current lineup consists of lead vocalist Gerard Way, lead guitarist Ray Toro, rhythm guitarist Frank Iero, and bassist Mi ...

covers released in September 2016. Within the album, they contributed a cover of the song "The Sharpest Lives." On March 21, 2017, the band released the single, "Slow Burn" and announced the release of a deluxe edition on ''Around the World and Back'' on May 5, with two new songs ("Slow Burn" and "Hurry Up and Wait"), two live songs ("All You Are Is History" and "Elevated") and two acoustic songs ("Secrets" and "Losing Myself"). Also announced was the release of a full-length DVD, directed by Elliot Ingham. Member Tony Diaz took a small break from the band the return to Viper City with Recon.

''Living Proof'' (2017–2021)

Around late November 2017, Derek posted a picture on his Instagram with the caption "just finished recording vocals on the last song of the new record". Following this during early March 2018, State Champs posted what looked to be a set for a music video on their Instagram account. On April 11, 2018, the album artwork and track listing for ''Living Proof'' was leaked on various music websites. Later, on April 19, they released the lead single for the album, called "Dead and Gone", and announced that ''Living Proof'' would be released on June 15, 2018. On May 6, the band released the second single from the album, "Crystal Ball". On May 24, the group premiered the third single, "Mine Is Gold", on ''Billboard''s website. On June 15, the album was released. On March 26, 2020, the band announced that Tony Diaz would be stepping away from State Champs.

''Kings of the New Age'' (2021–present)

On August 25, 2021, the band released the single, "Just Sound", followed by "Outta My Head" on September 8 and a cover of

Fall Out Boy Fall Out Boy is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Wilmette, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, in 2001. The band consists of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Patrick Stump, bassist Pete Wentz, lead guitarist Joe Trohman, and drummer A ...

's "Chicago is So Two Years Ago" on September 21. On February 23, 2022, following the release of their third single, "Everybody But You", the band announced that their new album, ''Kings of the New Age'', would be released on May 13 via Pure Noise Records. On April 13, 2022, the band released the fourth single, "Eventually." Months later, they announced they would be going on a nationwide tour with Blackbear.

Style and influences

State Champs' style has been described as

. Their influences include

The Starting Line The Starting Line is an American pop punk band based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that formed in 1999. History Early years (1999–2001) In 1999, the band that would become The Starting Line was initiated in Churchville, Pennsylvania via an ...

Blink-182 Blink-182 (stylized as blink-182) is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Poway, California in 1992. Their current lineup consists of bassist/vocalist Mark Hoppus, guitarist/vocalist Tom DeLonge, and drummer Travis Barker. Though their ...

Sum 41 Sum 41 is a Canadian rock band from Ajax, Ontario. Originally called Kaspir, the band was formed in 1996 and currently consists of Deryck Whibley (lead vocals, guitars, keyboards), Dave Baksh (lead guitar, backing vocals), Jason "Cone" McCas ...

, and

Green Day Green Day is an American rock band formed in the East Bay of California in 1987 by lead vocalist and guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong, together with bassist and backing vocalist Mike Dirnt. For most of the band's career, they have been a powe ...

Accolades

''Around the World and Back'' was ranked at number 4 in ''Alternative Press''s "10 Essential Records of 2015" list.Hall 2015, p. 96 Mackenzie Hall of ''Alternative Press'' wrote that the band brought "everything you love about old-school pop punk with new-school heart." The album was included at number 8 on ''Rock Sound''s top 50 releases of 2015 list. "If I'm Lucky" was nominated for Best Music Video and "Secrets" was nominated for Song Of The Year at the 2016

Alternative Press Music Awards The Alternative Press Music Awards was an annual music awards show in the United States, founded by the music magazine '' Alternative Press''. History On April 24, 2014, '' Alternative Press'' announced they were organizing an award show to be ...

. State Champs won Best Breakthrough Band at the 2016 Alternative Press Music Awards. "Losing Myself" won the award for Best Music Video at the 2017 Alternative Press Music Awards.

Band members

Current members * Derek DiScanio – lead vocals (2010–present) * Tyler Szalkowski – lead guitar, backing vocals (2010–present), rhythm guitar (2020–present) * Ryan Scott Graham – bass, backing vocals (2014–present) * Evan Ambrosio – drums, percussion (2012–present) Touring Members * Cameron Hurley – rhythm and lead guitar (2021–present) Former members * Dave Fogarty – rhythm guitar (2010–2011) * Matt Croteau – drums (2010–2012) * William Goodermote – bass (2010–2013) * Tony "Rival" Diaz – rhythm guitar, backing vocals (2012–2020) Timeline

Discography

Albums

! style="width:2.7em;font-size:85%;", US Rock
! style="width:2.7em;font-size:85%;", US Indie
! style="width:2.7em;font-size:85%;", US Alt
! style="width:2.7em;font-size:85%;", AUS
! style="width:2.7em;font-size:85%;", UK
, - ! scope="row", ''

'' , * Released: October 8, 2013 * Label:

* Format: CD, CS, DL, LP , 132 , 43 , 24 , — , — , — , *US: 24,000 , - ! scope="row", ''

'' , * Released: October 16, 2015 * Label: Pure Noise * Format: CD, CS, DL, LP , 30 , 3 , 5 , 3 , 31 , 78 , , - ! scope="row", '' Living Proof'' , * Released: June 15, 2018 * Label: Pure Noise * Format: CD, DL, LP , 28 , 4 , 2 , 3 , 62 , 54 , , - ! scope="row", ''Kings of the New Age'' , * Released: May 13, 2022 * Label: Pure Noise * Format: CD, DL, LP , — , 45 , 33 , — , — , — , , - , colspan="10" style="font-size:8pt", "—" denotes releases that did not chart

Extended plays

* ''EP 2010'' (self-released, 2010) * ''Apparently, I'm Nothing'' (self-released, 2011) * ''Overslept'' (Pure Noise, 2012) * ''The Acoustic Things'' (Pure Noise, 2014) US No. 112Awards, The Acoustic Things
Allmusic.com * ''Unplugged'' (Pure Noise, 2020)

Compilation appearances

* ''

Punk Goes Pop Vol. 6 ''Punk Goes Pop Vol. 6'' is a compilation album in the '' Punk Goes...'' series created by Fearless Records. Track listing * Set It Off's cover of "Problem" samples " No Scrubs" by TLC. This sample was removed in the 2015 re-release. * Upon a ...

'' (2014) – " Stay the Night" originally performed by

Zedd Anton Zaslavski (russian: Антон Заславский; born 2 September 1989), known professionally as Zedd (), is a Russian-born German DJ, record producer, and songwriter. Zedd grew up and began his musical journey in Kaiserslautern, G ...

featuring Hayley Williams of

Paramore Paramore is an American rock band from Franklin, Tennessee, formed in 2004. The band currently consists of lead vocalist Hayley Williams, guitarist Taylor York and drummer Zac Farro. Williams and Farro are founding members of the group, whil ...

* ''Rock Sound Presents: The Black Parade'' (2016) – "The Sharpest Lives" originally performed by

* '' Punk Goes Pop Vol. 7'' (2017) – " Stitches" originally performed by

Shawn Mendes Shawn Peter Raul Mendes (; born August 8, 1998) is a Canadian pop singer. He gained a following in 2013, when he posted song covers on the video sharing platform Vine. The following year, he caught the attention of artist manager Andrew Gert ...

* ''Songs That Saved My Life Vol. 2'' (2019) – " Real World" originally performed by

Matchbox Twenty Matchbox Twenty (also known as Matchbox 20 and MB20) is an American rock band formed in Orlando, Florida, in 1995. The group currently consists of Rob Thomas (lead vocals, guitar, keyboards), Brian Yale (bass guitar), Paul Doucette (drums, ...

References

Sources * * * {{Authority control Pop punk groups from New York (state) Pure Noise Records artists Musical groups established in 2010 2010 establishments in New York (state) American punk rock groups