User:Monaro632/Hopes Abandoned

Hopes Abandoned is a punk rock band from Melbourne, Victoria.

The band was formed in 2004 by Chris Cruz and Justin Bonckauskas, in Chris' hometown of Geelong, Victoria.

After some early jam sessions and the recruitment of Ellie Townsend and Dion Brass to man the bass guitar and drums respectively, the band made its first live foray in Geelong early the next year, with their debut EP, "It's Not Us, It's You!" following in late 2005, gaining the band a cult following in the local area and overseas, as the EP rapidly gained popularity among fans of the genre.

Early in 2006 after a period of internal conflict, Townsend and Brass departed the lineup, the group continued to play sporadically over the next 3 years with a host of temporary stand ins until entering the studio in summer 2009/10 to record their first, and to date only, full length album in "Fight Songs!"

With the completion of sessions for the album and release date looming, the duo actively began to seek new members to complete the lineup, with Mark Chapman joining on bass guitar and Matt Lansdown taking up the drummer's stool for the group in late 2010, with the once again fully complete group embarking on a nationwide tour in support of "Fight Songs!" release, which saw several singles from the album garner radio airplay and chart positions, the band even securing a nomination for the coveted Triple J Hottest 100 annual compilation.

With the close of the tour, and looking to expand their sound, the band grew to a 5 piece with the addition of Ben George as lead guitarist and began to write new material for an anticipated follow up album to "Fight Songs!", however rising tenions between Lansdown and the other members of the band led to the group firing him after making what bassist Chapman later recalled in an interview as "utterly f**king insane demands", however the departure appeared to have little effect on the band, with replacement drummer Basil February making his first appearance for the unit a mere 3 weeks later.

The balance of 2011 through to 2013 saw the band maintain its busy live schedule, making a number of live dates and festival appearances as they wrote and released their most recent release to date, 2013's "Put Up Or Shut Up" EP, and once again embarked on a frenetic run of touring in support of the release, though during the recording of the EP, lead guitarist George left the group and was not replaced, with his contributions remaining on the new EP.

Once again in a period of downtime for the band, after having manned the kit for two and a half years, Basil February departed the group, leading to an exhaustive search that ended up with the group taking on James Bain, and wasting no time in returning to the live circuit, debuting new material written since Bain's arrival only a few months before, though this was soon to be interrupted with Bain's sudden return to his native New Zealand for family reasons, the band once again dropping back to sporadic performances with Stephanie Smith behind the drums until the band announced they were breaking up in mid 2014.

However this was not the end of the group, having announced their reformation for a one-off performance for a music festival in support of a friend of the band facing a severe illness, though this later turned into a permanent resurrection as a few weeks later, Chris and Mark signalled their intent to continue the group indefinitely, with Bonckauskas and Smith playing their final show with the group on March 8th, though the band has yet to announce any replacements as yet.

Band members

 * Christopher Cruz - vocals 2004 - current
 * Mark Chapman - bass 2010 - current

Former members

 * Justin Nobody - guitar 2004 - 2014, 2015
 * Stephanie Smith drums 2014, 2015
 * Ben George - guitar 2011 - 2012
 * Basil February - drums 2011 - 2013
 * Dion Brass - drums 2004 - 2006
 * Matt Lansdown - drums 2010 - 2011
 * Ellie Townsend - bass 2004 - 2005

Albums

 * Fight Songs! (2010, RazorFace)

EPs

 * Its Not Us, Its You (2005, RazorFace)
 * Put Up Or Shut Up (2013, RazorFace)

Singles

 * Burn" (2010, RazorFace)