Origin and If These Streets Could Talk (2003–2005) Just Surrender was formed in 2003 while the members were still attending high school. Recording took place at Nada Recording Studios in New York with the producer John Naclerio. The band and its first album appeared on
MTV's
You Heard It Here First. In reviewing the album, the music critic Kate Lohnes wrote, "Overall, Just Surrender has panache. There's talent backing this heartfelt, although slightly unoriginal, release." The critic, Christopher Felton described the album as "unfortunately nothing more than a half-decent attempt at copying the work of far more superior bands".
Touring and increased popularity (2005–2007) The band quickly became popular on the music site PureVolume and received more than 400,000 plays in a matter of months. In reviewing the album,
AbsolutePunk wrote, "Though not necessarily bigger, and far from innovative,
We’re In Like Sin is a worthy follow-up."
Wonka Vision called it a "pop-punk" "guilty pleasure". Just Surrender embarked on a Northeastern and Midwestern tour in January 2009 alongside Jesse Barrera of
My American Heart,
Patent Pending, Kelsey & the Chaos and Pull the Pin. After the addition and returning from the UK they wrote and recorded for an EP titled
Stronger Now that was released on July 9, 2009. It was only made available at Warped Tour however, until released by
iTunes on August 12.
Stronger Now is significantly heavier than previous albums and has been described as
post-hardcore. In November 2009, the band joined
Hawthorne Heights for the
Never Sleep Again tour. With another line-up change, Haycraft and Meunier left the band. Kyle Shellhammer (formerly of
The High Court) became the band's bass guitarist, with Jolly Ubriaco as lead guitarist.
Phoenix and rumored indefinite hiatus (2010–2011) On June 22, 2010, Just Surrender released a third full-length album called
Phoenix. Two tracks, "Burning Up (Acoustic)" and "On My Own" have been released. It contains 12 tracks, including two previously released on the
Stronger Now EP: the songs "Crazy" and "Stronger Now". That same day, a music video was released for "On My Own". On June 10, 2010, the band released a statement on its Facebook page saying that
Phoenix would be released June 22, 2010, through iTunes, and would be released through retail on July 13, 2010. "Take Me Home", the band's next single, was released on June 15 through iTunes as scheduled. Just Surrender then toured with
Hit The Lights and
The Maine on the Zumiez Couch Tour. Just Surrender has played many live shows since 2011.
Fourth studio album (2011–2014) On December 19, it was reported that Just Surrender were writing material for a new album which would be self-released, and that Ryan Kienle, formerly of
Matchbook Romance, was the band's new bass guitarist.
Pitchfork revealed a release of the new album set for fall 2012. Simons said in a 2018 interview with American Slacker Podcast that the band had secretly gone into indefinite hiatus in 2013 but agreed that they would continue to write new material for the project while re-grouping.
Resurgence (2015–) On January 20, 2015, Maffucci announced on
Facebook that the band had officially been released from its contract with Razor and Tie Record Company and would be recording a new EP to be released in summer 2015. After its 2017 re-grouping, the band recruited ex-
Houston Calls drummer Josh Grigsby to fill in for Miller during live shows and touring because of Miller's tight schedule. == Style ==