The Driver Era (TDE) (stylized as THE DRIVER ERΛ) is an American music duo consisting of brothers Rocky and
Ross Lynch
Ross Shor Lynch (born December 29, 1995) is an American actor, singer, and musician. 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 recognit ...
. Both are former members of the now defunct
R5.
History
2018–present: R5 to The Driver Era and ''Preacher Man''
On March 1, 2018, R5's
Instagram
Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...
and
Twitter
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
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 a 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 more two 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", 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 4 June 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.
Early l ...
, 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.
Band members
Current members
*
Ross Lynch
Ross Shor Lynch (born December 29, 1995) is an American actor, singer, and musician. 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 recognit ...
(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 t ...
,
rhythm guitar
In music performances, rhythm guitar is a technique and role that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with other instruments from the rhythm section (e.g., drum kit, bass guitar ...
* 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 act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...
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 se ...
(2018–present) –
bass guitar
The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...
,
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 use ...
* Dave Briggs (2022–present) –
drums
A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...
* Garrison Jones (2022–present) –
keyboards
Keyboard may refer to:
Text input
* Keyboard, part of a typewriter
* Computer keyboard
** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping
** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware
Music
* Musi ...
;Former
*
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) –
drums
A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...
,
percussion
A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...
,
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 use ...
*
Rydel Lynch
Rydel Mary Lynch (born August 9, 1993) is an American singer and actress. She is one of the founding members of the pop rock band R5.
Early life
Lynch was born August 9, 1993, in Littleton, Colorado, the daughter of Stormie and Mark Lynch. ...
(2018–2021) –
keyboards
Keyboard may refer to:
Text input
* Keyboard, part of a typewriter
* Computer keyboard
** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping
** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware
Music
* Musi ...
,
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 use ...
*Chase Meyer (2020–2021) –
drums
A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...
,
percussion
A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...
Discography
Studio albums
Extended plays
Singles
Promotional singles
Other appearances
Music videos
Tours
Headlining
* The Driver Era Live! (2019)
* The Girlfriend Tour (2021–2022)
* Summer Tour 2022 (2022)
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Driver Era
American pop music groups
Musical groups established in 2018
R5 (band)
Sibling musical duos
2018 establishments in California