Martin Johnson

Martin Johnson

In keeping with the band's name, the songs of American rock band Boys Like Girls lean towards, well, boys liking girls although some songs do touch on relationships, precocious adolescents, and even battle with cancer. It is a band with promise in terms of commercial success and critical acclaim with the proper direction.

Band Composition

The band is lead by Martin Johnson on lead vocals and rhythm guitar, Paul DiGiovanni on lead guitar and backup vocals, Bryan Donahue on bass guitar and backup vocals and John Keefe on drums. It was started in late 2005 when Johnson recruited the band members to record the songs he has written. Soon, their recorded demo tapes of "The Great Escape" and "Thunder", which were posted at PureVolume, gained an audience. In fact, the band occupied the top spot in the site's Top Unsigned Artists category by year's end.

One of the captivated audience were record producer Matt Squire and booking agent Matt Galle, who paved the way for their inclusion in a nationwide tour with other bands in February 2006. And the rest is history for these young American rockers.

Band Style Influences

Every rock band has its influences and the Boys Like Girls is no exception. The band members draw inspirations from both their contemporaries and the popular alternative rocks bands of the 1990s. From their contemporaries, the musical influences of Blink-182, Jimmy Eat World, Dashboard Confessional and Story of the Year are present in the drum and guitar works. As for the 1990s influences like Goo Goo Dolls and Vertical Horizon, lyricism and vocal patterns are heavily borrowed.

Fortunately for the band, and consequently its Boys Like Girls merch lines, the musical styles is more radio-friendly, more pop rock-sounding, and hence, more commercially successful. In fact, some music critics dub the band's album as full of hit songs and the album to summer, all accolades of which point to Boys Like Girls' potential to conquer the mainstream world of music. Now, that would be even better for the Boys Like Girls merch!

Band Activities

The band continues to be busy touring the country. Since its first tour with the Hit the Lights, A Thorn for Every Heart and Keating, it has performed with Cute Is What We Aim For, Butch Walker, Permanent Me, Scenes from a Movie, Lostprophets, Eighteen Visions, Over It, Spitalfield, Valencia Punchline, The Format and The All-American Rejects. A new album is also in the works.

Band Discography

So far, there have only been two albums to the band's name. The first, the eponymous studio album Boys Like Girls, was released in 2006 through Columbia Records/Red Ink. It is an RIAA-certified gold album with over 500,000 copies shipped and contains 12 songs with three bonus tracks. The second, Read Between the Lines, was released in 2008. It is actually a live album in DVD format with 10 songs. It peaked at number 21 at the US Heat charts.

Truly, with its up-and-coming sound, Boys Like Girls can possibly move away from the shadow of its musical influence, Jimmy Eat World, and establish its own musical identity. So, now is a better time as any to array one's self in Boys Like Girls merch to express your faith in the rock band.

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did martin johnson's mother die of cancer...you know the lead singer of boys like girls?

I heard that martin johnson's (boys like girls) mother died of cancer when he was sixteen... is it true. I also heard that's why he wrote on top of the world

yup, everything you said is right. his mother did die of cancer when he was sixteen, and on top of the world is about her.