"Hoobastank formed in Agoura Hills, a suburb of Los Angeles, in 1994 when vocalist Doug Robb and Dan Estrin competed against each other in a high school battle of the bands competition and forged a friendship. Robb and Estrin enlisted bassist Markku Lappalainen and drummer Chris Hesse and formed Hoobastank; the group was heavily influenced by Alice in Chains and Tool. Hoobastank self-released They Sure Don't Make Basketball Shorts Like They Used to in 1998 and the group quickly transitioned from performing at friends' parties to gigs throughout Southern California after the album got instant notoriety. In August 2000 Island Records came a knocking and signed the quartet, who soon found themselves touring with the likes of Alien Ant Farm and Incubus.Hoobastank released their eponymous major label debut in 2001 and scored radio and MTV airplay with popular singles ""Running Away"" and ""Crawling in the Dark."" Hoobastank was supported by a European and Asian tour and eventually went gold, prompting the band to head back to the studio for a repeat performance in 2003. Estrin was injured in a minibike accident and the group thus was forced to cancel a few shows in the later summer months but Hoobastank got their guitarist back by October and they began the Nokia Unwired Tour with the All-American Rejects and Ozomatli. Hoobastank offered a free download of ""Out of Control,"" the lead single off their sophomore effort, The Reason, toward the end of the year. In 2004 the band issued a DVD collection of the band's previous videos titled Let It Out and one year later Hoobastank embarked on a tour co-headlining with Velvet Revolver, but the partnership soured when Robb and Scott Weiland, Velvet Revolver frontman, engaged in a feud that was documented on Internet message boards. The issue was chronicled in 2006's Every Man for Himself, which was released on the heels of the album's lead single ""If I Were You."""