Five State Drive (3)

Five State Drive AKA Five State Drive TX was a primarily pop punk and emo band from San Antonio and Austin, TX. James Holland and George Hickman started writing songs together in 1998, at first with the intention of starting a ska band called either 530 Getup or Maine. The horn players Ammon Hickman and Nate Gardner dropped out by the end of that year and and the band further shifted away from ska as they wrote more songs. They recorded their debut album Anytime Soon in 1999 and 2000 with the assistance of the pop punk band Antifreeze and Aaron Castillo of 40 Second Scandals AKA 40 Second Skandals and it was released via MP3.com in 2000. They were joined by Chris King and Jordan Johns in 2000 and played shows with the Impossibles, the Honor System, Riddlin' Kids, Antifreeze, Mock Orange, Ringer, Lonely Kings, Cinderleaf, Attention, the Bombardiers, and 40 Second Scandals. Jordan Johns left in early 2001 and was replaced as drummer by Isiah Daniel Smith, who was replaced by Robert Watkins. Five State Drive were active until 2002 when their final CD If Life's A Joke I Don't Get It was released. In 2022 the original live line-up of the band made a new recording of an live favorite, Gummy Bears, which was released as a single on 1/21/23. It is also the lead track of Electronic Waste, released 1/31/23, which is otherwise a compilation of all tracks they recorded in a studio after the release of their album.