+44

During blink-182's 2005 hiatus, the pop-punk trio's alumni Travis Barker on drums and Mark Hoppus on vocals and bass launched +44 while their former bandmate Tom DeLonge pursued his separate project Angels and Airwaves. Conceived at first as a largely electronic endeavor, the songs ultimately took shape within the alternative rock realm; the project's name derived from the international dialing code for the United Kingdom, the location where the pair initially mapped out their collaboration. Vocalist Carol Heller, previously of Get the Girl, joined them early on, yet she exited the lineup by summer 2006 to devote more time to her family. One month afterward, the quietly announced roster expansion brought in guitarists Shane Gallagher of the Nervous Return and Craig Fairbaugh, whose credits include Mercy Killers, Lars Fredericksen & the Bastards, and the Forgotten. The resulting debut album, When Your Heart Stops Beating, arrived in stores via Interscope in early November 2006, with its title track receiving rotation on radio and MTV. Despite Barker sustaining a broken right arm during the shoot for the band's inaugural video, +44 embarked on a series of nationwide headlining shows that extended through mid-December in support of the release.