BLUE OCTOBER

Blue October<b/> is an American alternative rock band originally from Houston, Texas. The band was formed in 1995 and currently consists of Justin Furstenfeld (lead vocals, guitar), Jeremy Furstenfeld (drums, percussion), Ryan Delahoussaye (violin/viola, mandolin, piano, backing vocals), Matthew Ostrander (lead guitar), and Matt Noveskey (bass guitar, backing vocals). The band has had eight Top 40 singles over their past seven studio albums and is best known for their platinum singles "Hate Me" and "Into the Ocean" from their 2006 platinum album Foiled.

Blue October was started by Justin Furstenfeld and Ryan Delahoussaye, who met in high school. Prior to forming the full band, the duo played together under the name "Harvest" with Justin singing and playing guitar and Ryan playing mandolin and violin and singing backup. Ryan was working at a restaurant in Houston at the time, and invited restaurant patron Elizabeth "Liz" Rapstein Phillips (née Mullally) to join on bass after striking up a conversation upon noticing she had a drum tuning key on her keychain. Justin's older brother Jeremy was watching the group practice at Liz's house one day. Liz had a drum kit and Justin persuaded Jeremy to join in on drums, even though he had never played before. The band played their first show just a few weeks after Jeremy joined. Jeremy lived in San Marcos, and the other members (except Liz) moved to join him there in 1997. Liz left the band in 1998 and was replaced by Matt Noveskey. The band wanted to add a second guitar player to allow Justin to focus more on singing during shows, and auditioned guitar players in 1999. Brant Coulter was chosen as lead guitarist, however he left the band in late 2000 when Blue October was dropped from Universal Records. C.B. Hudson joined on lead guitar in late 2000 after a chance meeting with Justin at a restaurant in San Marcos. At the end of the Consent to Treatment tour in 2002, Matt Noveskey left the band due to health reasons and was replaced by Dwayne Casey. Dwayne and Matt both played on the band's next album, History For Sale, and Dwayne toured with the band in 2003. In August 2003 Dwayne was replaced by Piper Skih Swinford (née Dagnino), who is married to one of Blue October's co-managers and is also an established professional bassist. Piper toured with the band through 2004 and appeared on the live album/DVD Argue With a Tree... During preparations for recording the band's next album Foiled, Matt Novesky was called back in as the official bassist, thereby returning the band to their most recognizable lineup. This lineup recorded and toured the next two Blue October albums. At the end of the Approaching Normal tour, C.B. Hudson announced he was leaving the band to focus on raising a family and pursuing his dream of owning a recording studio. C.B. was replaced by former Canvas guitarist Julian Mandrake who had previously been a touring guitarist for Blue October in 2006, covering Justin's guitar parts while Justin was recovering from a broken leg. Julian played with Blue October on their Ugly Side acoustic tour and also on the Any Man in America tour. During the recording sessions for Sway in early 2013, C.B. Hudson was asked to come back and play on the album and to play shows over the summer of 2013, once again returning Blue October to their previous lineup. C.B. recorded with the band for their 2016 album Home and appeared in publicity photos with the band, however he had to take a leave from the band due to a collarbone injury sustained during a dirt bike accident and Matthew Ostrander filled in on lead guitar in 2016 for the Home tour. On April 13, 2016 it was confirmed that C.B. would not be returning.