Actor

3 series in the catalog

The Click Five (often abbreviated as TC5) is an American rock band from Boston, Massachusetts. The original members, most of them students at Berklee College of Music, started on January 1, 2004, and played in various local venues. They then quickly got the attention of talent scout Wayne Sharp (who had worked with the power pop group Candy). The Click Five made their first recording, a two-song demo session, in early 2004 after successful local touring. They released their debut studio album Greetings from Imrie House in 2005. After vocalist Eric Dill left the group, he was replaced by Kyle Patrick who debuted on their second studio album Modern Minds and Pastimes in 2007. Their third studio album, TCV, was released in Asia in 2010 and to the rest of the world in early 2011. The group broke up in 2013. The band returned in 2025, embarking on the Click 2025 tour and performing at the Playback Music Festival.

The band was initially known for its power pop songs and for its mod-based public image, involving sharp-looking suits and ties coupled with moptop haircuts, which is deliberately reminiscent of the Beatles or the Dave Clark Five. They prefer to classify their music as "new school power pop". However, they have also been classified as pop punk and teen pop. They achieved significant commercial success with their first album in the US and their second release met with extreme popularity in Asian countries such as Cambodia and the Philippines. In total, the band has sold two million albums worldwide and have created eight number one singles in seven different nations. The band starred in the 2007 film Taking Five with Alona Tal, Daniella Monet, and Christy Carlson Romano.

History

2003–2004: Formation and early history

Ben Romans studied songwriting, Ethan Mentzer studied production and engineering, and Joey Zehr double majored in production/engineering and business at the Berklee College of Music. Roommates and close-friends Mentzer and Zehr moved to a place on Imrie Road in the neighborhood of Allston when they were both sophomores. Calling their place "Imrie House", they met with Romans and Joe Guese (whom Zehr once described as a "professional dropout") and formed a kind of pseudo-fraternity. The four played in various local bands, none of which had any success. However, they drew the attention of Wayne Sharp, a musical talent agent who had mostly worked in jazz although he had also worked with the mid-1980s power pop group Candy.

Romans went to work for a record company in Nashville. Jeff Dorenfeld, former manager of the band Boston, saw Guese and Mentzer performing in May 2003 and referred them to Sharp. Sharp liked their playing, but he had a low regard for their songs and their appearance. The first words Sharp ever said to them were "This isn't going to work unless you listen to me".

The four soon took in Eric Dill, a high-school friend of Zehr from when they both lived in Indianapolis. Zehr has said that they began playing seriously because "hen we started the band our senior year, it was basically our last-ditch effort, because we all knew we were about to be done with school and have to enter the real world". They were all in their very early-20s. According to Zehr, the group would play several shows a week that were booked under different band names to get around local clubs' rules preventing artists from playing that close to each other. Their playing then got the attention of Mike Denneen, Boston-based producer of Fountains of Wayne, who agreed to help them produce a 2-song demo record. Denneen also introduced them to Kiss guitarist Paul Stanley, who was strongly supportive.

2005–2006: Greetings From Imrie House

The Click Five made their demos at Imrie House itself, finishing in March 2004. Denneen believed that the group "sucked live" and pushed them to rehearse further. The program director at Kiss 108, the big Boston Top 40 station, liked it enough to book the group for the station's "Concert on the Charles" in mid-2004. They released their first EP, "Angel to You (Devil to Me)", on April 25, 2005. Principal songwriter Ben Romans collaborated with Paul Stanley in creating the song, and guitarist Elliot Easton, best known for his work in the Cars, played in it.

The group hired a lawyer and shopped around some of the major labels. A college scout from Epic Records who witnessed one of their shows convinced Epic to fly the group to Los Angeles to play. Lava Records, which was later folded into Atlantic Records, ended up signing the band in late 2004. They started with the label a mere month after their EP. According to The Boston Globe, "Click Five was launched into the pop-music stratosphere with the full force of the industry's muscle behind it." The band opened for Ashlee Simpson for the first time, a position that cost the label $25,000 and that one of their officials later called "the best money we've spent".

The group ended up selling about 10,000 copies of the EP. They then released "Just the Girl", written by label-mate Adam Schlesinger of Fountains of Wayne, to build up support for their debut album. It was met with commercial success, peaking at number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song also took the number one spot on the US Digital Song Sales chart. They created a music video for the song in summer 2005, and it went up to number three on MTV's program Total Request Live. The song became the No. 1 most-downloaded song on iTunes for over 2 weeks, leading to a RIAA platinum certification as a Digital Single. They also toured extensively with Ashlee Simpson. They released their debut, Greetings From Imrie House, on August 8, 2005, which they named after the building where they had started. It featured another song by Schlesinger titled "I'll Take My Chances", in which Elliot Easton also played. The album also contained a cover version of "Lies" – a song which was a hit for UK pop band Thompson Twins in 1983.

The album brought widespread commercial success, selling 350,000 copies in the United States. It took the fifteenth place on the Billboard 200 almost immediately. According to The Boston Globe, they "saturated" the media in several Asian countries as well, such as in Cambodia. Amy Doyle, then-MTV vice president, remarked that "I see screaming girls in their future. I see them having to wear disguises". Many stores stocked various Click Five-based items such as lunchboxes, backpacks, trading cards, and hair gel lines. Their album turned out as that year's highest-charting debut from a new rock group, selling 51,541 copies. Their MySpace page hit No. 1 on the "Most Viewed Band Page" ranking as well. The band spent late 2005 and early 2006 as the opening act for Ashlee Simpson, Alanis Morissette and Jesse McCartney as well as touring both by itself and in collaboration with Big City Rock. They also supported the Backstreet Boys on their Never Gone Tour. In August 2005, they performed "Just the Girl" on Late Night with Conan O'Brien. On November 8, the group released the album's second single "Catch Your Wave". The song peaked at number 37 on the US Pop Airplay chart. They performed at Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in November 2005, singing "Catch Your Wave". On March 20, 2006, the group released the live EP, Live at Bull Moose, which was recorded on September 14, 2005, at the Bull Moose. A second live EP titled Rolling Stone Originals: The Click Five was recorded in December 2005, in New York, which was released on April 4.

Greetings from Imrie House gathered positive reviews from About.com, where critic Bill Lamb labeled it "a free fall into the world of irresistible melody and guitar-soaked power chords", and from Entertainment Weekly, where critic Gary Susman called it "insanely catchy". Rolling Stone also ran a supportive review from Barry Walters, who stated that the "relentlessly catchy" album featured "several hit-worthy tracks". Critics at USA Today and IGN.com panned the album, the former stating…