5 Seconds of Summer Parking

On December 3rd 2011, 5 Seconds of Summer played their first gig, at The Annandale Hotel in their native Sydney, Australia. It was their first time together playing as a four-piece. They had to recruit a drummer for the occasion. They had a bass player with no bass guitar, “so I played on an acoustic,” says Calum. “Michael sent me a very detailed Facebook message asking me ‘how would you like to come along and play for 200 screaming fans,’” says the last part of the 5SOS jigsaw to slot into place, drummer Ashton. “I was like, woah, that sounds great, amazing, this guy sounds legit.” In the event, they delivered a covers set to twelve nodding acquaintances. But something happened that night in the Annandale. “We saw what we could be as a band,” says Luke. Just over two years later they have shaped up into the box-fresh pop/rock sound of 2014. The screaming starts here. 5SOS (Michael: “we love a good acronym”) comprises of Luke (vocals/guitar), Michael (vocals/guitar), Ashton (vocals/drums) and Calum (vocals/bass). They are all between 17-19 years of age and met between a modern congregation of the schoolyard and YouTube in the inland West Sydney suburb of Riverstone. They all have regular backgrounds. Two of them didn’t finish school. They practised in their folks’ houses. “We’re average working class boys,” says Luke. “We come from places where we struggled for money, none of our parents are well off so we learned to value everything that’s given to us.” Adds Ashton: “They’re as passionate as us. They’ve seen it from us making a racket in their garages to seeing girls screaming and crying at us.” 5SOS are as thick as thieves. “The friendship is all based on what we want to do with the band,” says Luke. Which is? “It’s the love of old punk rock and new punk rock and wanting to bring that into the pop stratosphere.” From the kick-off they knew they were onto something. “We had this tiny little following,” says Ashton, “but they were committed and fanatical. We didn’