The Audition

In 2003 drummer Ryan O'Connor and bassist Joe Lussa laid the foundation for the Audition, a Chicago outfit that fused punk-pop with emo. They cycled through a series of early members while sharpening the material and taking it on stage. Once a demo had been cut and local bills had been shared with acts such as the Academy Is..., Victory Records offered a deal that yielded the September 2005 debut Controversy Loves Company. By then the roster had settled around O'Connor, Lussa, guitarists Seth Johnson and Timmy Klepek, and singer Danny Stevens, who immediately began touring behind the record. The follow-up, Champion, surfaced in 2008 and entered the Billboard 200 at number 157, confirming the band’s widening national reach. Self-Titled Album became the third full-length in 2009, the same year original member Joe Lussa departed; Timmy Klepek shifted to bass, and the reduced lineup unveiled Great Danger in 2010.