5 Seconds of Summer (5SOS) fit the boy-band mould: four young men with a feverish female fan base touring with the British megastars One Direction. But the Australian pop-rock group identify more with Pete Wentz of Fall Out Boy than Harry Styles.
“I [grew up] watching, you know, live rock ’n’ roll bands and I wanted to be like Tre Cool from Green Day,” says 5SOS’s drummer Ashton Irwin, 20. “To be called a boy band coming from those roots and writing our own songs and starting in the garage, I don’t think it’s the correct term for us.”
The group's first full-length, self-titled album debuted at No.1 on Billboard 200's albums chart this week after selling 259,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan. 5SOS's debut single, She Looks So Perfect, became a Top 40 hit and the follow-up, Amnesia, has peaked at No 16.
Irwin says the “high-energy rock album” was inspired by guitar bands of the 1990s and early 2000s, including Blink-182 and Jimmy Eat World, as well as contemporary performers such as Imagine Dragons.
Despite that, One Direction have had some influence on 5SOS.
“We’ve become comfortable. I think we’re just really very used to having each other on the same tour,” says Irwin. “They’ve had us on their tour for two years now.”
The Canadian and United States leg of One Direction’s Where We Are stadium tour kicked off on August 1 in Toronto, where 5SOS opened.
“The way they treat their crew and stuff like that, it’s a real family-type environment and really we look up to that,” Irwin says.
The rising band are also performing for larger audiences: 5SOS announced this week they would headline an arena tour next year.
Despite their early success, social-media stardom and devoted fan following, the band – who include the vocalist Luke Hemmings, the guitarist Michael Clifford and the bassist Calum Hood – are taking their new-found fame in their stride.
“I don’t see us as having any fame factor,” said Hemmings. “We’re just dudes in a band who play some stuff.”
They also co-write most of their music that, like the break-up song Amnesia, focuses on love and heartache.
“It feels nice to write about girls because it gets it off your chest,” said Clifford. “It’s good.”
But there’s no time for love.
“[We’re)] married to the band, we always say,” says Hood.
