Formation and debut album (2009–2010) Of Mice & Men was founded by Austin Carlile, the original
vocalist of
Attack Attack!, and
bassist Jaxin Hall, an import from
Auckland, New Zealand during 2009 in
Columbus, Ohio. Carlile and Hall searched for other members for about a month. According to Carlile in an interview, Carlile's desktop background was none other than Valentino Arteaga, drummer of
Lower Definition, and Jon Kintz of
Odd Project. Carlile was amazed when Arteaga was interested in playing drums for the band after being sent an invite over email. The trio then added Phil Manansala, a touring guitarist for
A Static Lullaby and the line-up was set. Carlile and Hall moved to Southern California to join the others. A little while later, Kintz was cut from the band and replaced with
Shayley Bourget. With a question at hand asking of the departure of Kintz in a Q&A for the group, Bourget jokingly stated, "Jon didn't cut it." On Kintz's part, he reportedly cited that the band felt he was "partying too much." After reaching 1,000,000 plays from their Myspace profile in just two months since its launch, the band uploaded a cover of
Lady Gaga's song "
Poker Face". The song was mastered by
Tom Denney, formerly of
A Day to Remember and a copy of the demo was sent directly to
Rise Records. The group then traveled to the Foundation Studios in
Connersville, Indiana on July 14, 2009, with
Joey Sturgis to record their
self-titled debut album. On December 6, 2009, they had two video shoots in
Ventura, California, for "Those in Glass Houses" and "Second & Sebring". The band released their debut album on March 9, 2010. The original release date was February 23, but the album was forced into a delay. A month before the official release, the album was leaked on February 10 by fans who hacked into the system. The music video for "Second & Sebring" was released on
Hot Topic's website and made its television premiere on
Headbangers Ball on March 15, 2010. The band joined the "Squash the Beef Tour" supporting
Dance Gavin Dance, along with
Emarosa,
Tides of Man, and
Of Machines. Also in 2009, Of Mice & Men was support on the "Atticus Tour" along with
Finch,
Blessthefall,
Drop Dead, Gorgeous,
Vanna, and Let's Get It. After completion of the "Atticus Tour", the band supported
I See Stars on the "Leave It to the Suits Tour" with
We Came as Romans,
Broadway, and Covendetta.
Departure of Carlile and Hall (2010–2011) Jerry Roush, who was formerly a part of
Sky Eats Airplane, soon became a permanent addition to Of Mice & Men. Originally, Roush was a substitute for Austin Carlile on the Emptiness Tour in 2010 which featured the band along with
Alesana,
A Skylit Drive,
the Word Alive, and
We Came as Romans. Carlile required a heart surgery performed in the near future and was forced to not tour by his doctor. At the same time, Carlile fell into a conflict with the other members. Through much deliberation, the band and Carlile decided to part ways. The group thereafter invited Roush to front Of Mice & Men. The band was featured on the cover for the 19th issue of
Substream Music Press shortly after this decision. After the Emptiness Tour, Of Mice & Men supported Attack Attack! on the "This Is A Family Tour" with
In Fear and Faith,
Pierce the Veil, and
Emmure. Months after Roush joined the band, bassist, Jaxin Hall left the group on August 23, 2010. Hall explained that the reasons for this decision were made to concentrate more on his personal life, as well as his clothing brand, Love Before Glory. Dane Poppin of
A Static Lullaby, the former band for Phil, substituted as a bassist for Of Mice & Men's then upcoming tour dates after Hall's departure. The group was included in the
Punk Goes... compilation,
Punk Goes Pop Volume 03., covering the
R&B song, "
Blame It" by
Jamie Foxx with Poppin on bass and is the only recording by the band to feature Roush's vocals. The band participated in
Warped Tour 2010. Shortly after the conclusion of Warped Tour, Of Mice & Men toured the UK in support of
August Burns Red and
Blessthefall.
Carlile's return with Ashby and The Flood (2011–2012) Leading onto Roush being a part of the band for already nine months, the group confirmed on January 3, 2011, that they reached a decision to have Jerry Roush leave Of Mice & Men in favor for former vocalist and founding member, Austin Carlile, to return to the group. Roush posted an extended response to his firing from the band on his
Twitter account. Carlile was under an intention for months to start a new musical project, with fellow musician Alan Ashby, until his request to return to the group was made. Carlile and Ashby were then both accepted into Of Mice & Men, with Ashby as an entirely new member. The group then underwent a slight arrangement, as they required a bassist after several substitutions to which Dane Poppin, of A Static Lullaby, contributed. Poppin's needed return to A Static Lullaby after extensive touring with Of Mice & Men had the group move Shayley Bourget from rhythm guitar to bass guitar, but remain at clean vocals. Alan Ashby was employed as rhythm guitarist. The band toured Europe and Australia in support of
the Amity Affliction, along with
I Killed the Prom Queen, and
Deez Nuts. They also later supported
Asking Alexandria on a short four-day UK tour along with
While She Sleeps. On May 13, 2011, Of Mice & Men released a brand new single entitled, "Still YDG'N". Also, on May 24, they released a second song entitled, "Purified". "Purified" has been added to the 2011 installment of Sideonedummy's annual Warped Tour compilation.
The Flood was released June 14, 2011. Of Mice & Men participated on all of the
Warped Tour 2011. They were joined by former bassist Jaxin Hall on select California dates for "Second & Sebring". From September 13, 2011, until October 14, 2011, Of Mice & Men supported
We Came as Romans on the "I'm Alive Tour" along with
Miss May I,
Texas in July, and
Close to Home. Afterward, the group headlined the "
Monster Energy Outbreak Tour" with
Iwrestledabearonce,
I See Stars,
Abandon All Ships, and
That's Outrageous!.
For the Fallen Dreams was also included on the first half of the tour. Devin Oliver (
I See Stars) and Christopher Stewart (
That's Outrageous!) filled in on clean vocals after the departure of Bourget midway through the tour.
Departure of Shayley Bourget and The Flood Deluxe Reissue (2012) In 2012, the group announced that they were returning to the studio to begin work on their third release. On February 9, the announcement of Bourget's departure from the band was released to the public via Facebook and YouTube. Bourget had also released a video statement on YouTube, stating the reasons he had to discontinue with the band. He suffered from depression and alcoholism, along with other personal problems, and felt that he was bringing the other band members down. Bourget stated he will not be returning to the band, and has since been the lead vocalist for
Dayshell. On March 2, the band announced via Facebook that Austin Carlile would be taking over on all vocals for Of Mice & Men's third studio album. On March 25,
Confide drummer/vocalist
Joel Piper announced he would be filling in on bass for the next run of shows. A reissue of
The Flood was released on July 24, 2012. It contains two discs, featuring four brand new tracks. For Vans Warped Tour 2012,
Aaron Pauley of
Jamie's Elsewhere substituted on bass guitar and clean vocals. Pauley has since stated that he is no longer a band member of Jamie's Elsewhere, but he did not leave on bad terms.
Arrival of Pauley, Restoring Force and Live at Brixton (2012–2016) 2014 On December 4, 2012, the band indicated they were writing material for their next album, Stating "we are currently home from tour for the remainder of 2012 and are now back in our studio working on our brand new album!" The band entered the studio in June 2013 to begin pre-production on the album with producer
David Bendeth. On October 1, 2013, it was announced that the band had finished tracking for their new album, having spent the summer in New Jersey recording the album, with David Bendeth, who was in the processing of mixing the album. On October 17, 2013,
Alternative Press released the first studio video and announced the completion of the band's third album. On November 26, the band released a teaser for a big announcement to come the following day. The next day, the band announced their third studio album named
Restoring Force, due for release on January 24, 2014, in North America. They also announced dates for a UK headlining tour in April 2014 with
Issues and
Beartooth. On December 2, the band released their first single from
Restoring Force. The single, "
You're Not Alone", is the band's first release with new bassist and clean vocalist Aaron Pauley. They announced that "Bones Exposed" would be the next song released from the new album; it was released on December 23. After the album was released, the band toured as a support act for British
metalcore band
Bring Me the Horizon, along with metalcore band
Issues, on the "American Dream Tour" throughout America, starting early February and finishing in late March. Once the tour finished, the band headlined in the UK, with Issues and Beartooth supporting them throughout April. A music video for the third single of the album "Would You Still Be There" was released on May 15, 2014. Starting from May 23, the band supported
A Day to Remember in
Latin America, finishing in early June. In July, it was announced that the band will be the main support for the
rock band
Linkin Park on their European tour in November. On October 8, 2014, the band posted photos of them back in the studio with David Bendeth on Twitter. On October 23, the band released a music video for the song "Feels Like Forever". On December 16, a deluxe edition of
Restoring Force was announced entitled
Restoring Force: Full Circle, which will include three new tracks and an acoustic version of "Feels Like Forever", and is set to be released on February 24, 2015. On February 5, 2015, the band premiered a new single "Broken Generation", with an accompanying music video. The following day, the single was available to listen to through streaming library
Spotify. On May 27, 2016, the band released their first live album, titled
Live at Brixton.
Cold World and Carlile's second departure (2016–2017) 2017 On June 28, 2016, the band announced their fourth studio album,
Cold World, which was released on September 9, 2016, through
Rise Records. On the same day, they released the album's lead single, "Pain", accompanied with its music video. On August 4, the band released the second single of the album titled "Real" and its corresponding music video. On August 30, the band released the third and final single of the album titled "Contagious". On December 30, Austin Carlile posted on his Instagram that he's leaving the band to focus on healing and getting better while moving to
Costa Rica, leaving the band with only two of its founding members remaining. It was also revealed on February 17, 2017, that one of the other reasons Carlile had left the band was because he wasn't allowed to write what he wanted on the next record. In a reply to an Instagram comment about whether or not he would be working with Of Mice & Men in the future, he said "No I will no longer be writing with them, one of the reasons I left. They weren't going to let me write what I wanted on next record. That's not gonna happen. I will write what I want despite what that means giving up."
Defy (2017–2018) The band performed without former vocalist Carlile on April 21, 2017, at the Las Rageous Festival in
Las Vegas. Three days later, on April 24, the band released the single "Unbreakable," and "Back to Me" on May 22. marking their first singles with Pauley as lead vocalist. The documentary addressed the struggles and triumphs of the band after losing a vital part of the show. On November 10, 2017, the band released the third single with Pauley on vocals, titled "Warzone". Along with the release of "Warzone", the band announced their first complete record with Pauley as lead vocalist titled
Defy. The fifth single, a cover of
Pink Floyd's "
Money", was released worldwide on January 12, 2018. On January 19,
Defy was released worldwide.
Earthandsky (2018–2021) On October 10, 2018, Aaron Pauley announced that the band is working on a new album with producer Josh Wilbur. Pauley has also stated that the new record will be 'heavier' compared to
Defy. On February 14, 2019, the band released a new song called "How to Survive" which, as they stated, sounded much heavier than tracks from their previous album
Defy. On May 3, the band released another new song titled "Mushroom Cloud" and its corresponding music video. On June 26, DJ and producer
Kayzo along with other artist Yultron released a collaboration track with the band titled "Night Terror" marking the band's first collaboration with other artists. On July 26, the band announced their new album titled
Earthandsky set for release on September 27, 2019. They also released the title track and video for "Earth & Sky". On September 5, the band released the fourth single of the album titled "Taste of Regret" along with an accompanying music video.
New label, EP trilogy and Echo (2021–2022) On January 13, 2021, the band revealed that they had parted ways with
Rise Records and signed with
SharpTone Records. At the same time, they released a new single "Obsolete" and announced that their debut EP,
Timeless, would be released on February 26, 2021. On February 10, two weeks before the EP release, the band released the title track "Timeless". On April 21, the band announced that their second EP,
Bloom, would be released on May 28, 2021. That same day, they unveiled a new single and title track "Bloom". On September 29, the band released a brand new single "Mosaic". On October 19, the band released the single "Fighting Gravity" and announced that their third EP,
Ad Infinitum, was set for release on December 3, 2021. The group also surprise announced their seventh studio album,
Echo, which was released along with the EP and compiles all three EPs that were released throughout the year. At the same time, they revealed the album cover and the track list. On November 24, one week before the EP and album release, the band unveiled the title track of the record.
Tether (2023–2025) On February 12, 2023, Of Mice & Men announced through social media that they have nearly wrapped up the material for their eighth studio album. On July 9, the band shared a video online, features behind the scenes footage from a recent video shoot, including a photo shoot. On July 17, they revealed
Tether as the title of their eighth studio album. On the same day, the band confirmed that the first single titled "Warpaint" would be released on July 28. On July 28, the band revealed the album would be released on October 6. On August 23, the band released the second single "Castaway" along with an accompanying music video. On September 20, three weeks before the album release, the band released the third single "Indigo". The music video for "Into the Sun" was released October 6, 2023, coinciding with the album release.
Another Miracle (2025–present) On May 8, 2025, the band released the single, "Another Miracle", as well as their signing to
Century Media Records. On July 10, 2025, the band announced their upcoming ninth studio album,
Another Miracle, set to be released on November 14, 2025. On the same day, the album's second single, "Wake Up", was released. ==Musical style and influences==