Early years (2006–2007) Bassist Garrett Nickelsen and drummer Patrick Kirch had been playing in a
hardcore band called the Kerosene Kids. When the lead singer of the group left, they opted to start over with a new name and sound. The name came from the song "Coast of Maine" by Ivory. Singer
John O'Callaghan joined soon after auditions - with no prior vocal experience - along with guitarists Alex Ross and Ryan Osterman. Together, they released their debut EP
Stay Up, Get Down on May 8, 2007. Months later, Osterman and Ross left the band and were replaced by Kennedy Brock and Jared Monaco. On the following day, they released their second EP,
The Way We Talk which was produced by
Matt Grabe. The EP peaked at number ten on the US
Billboard Heatseekers Albums chart and sold 50,000 copies. The EP also peaked at number 45 on the US
Independent Albums chart.
''Can't Stop Won't Stop'' (2008–2009) Pre-production for their debut album was held at The Swing House in
Hollywood, California. The group recorded the album at The Lair in
Los Angeles,
California where it was produced by
Matt Squire. According to O'Callaghan, the group went for a "poppier direction than the EP," when describing their sound on their debut studio album. The song was later released digitally on June 10. The song peaked at number 19 on the US
Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart. Their debut full-length studio album, ''
Can't Stop Won't Stop was released on July 8, 2008. The album debuted at number 40 on the Billboard
200 and sold 12,000 copies first week. The band toured with Good Charlotte, Boys Like Girls and Metro Station on the Soundtrack of Your Summer tour during the summer of 2008. In the fall of 2008, The Maine joined All Time Low on the Compromising of Integrity, Morality & Principles in Exchange for Money tour along with Mayday Parade and Every Avenue. The music video for "Everything I Ask For" premiered on MTV on November 19, 2008, and was directed by Matthew Stawski. Alternative Press'' named the group one of the "100 Bands You Need to Know in 2008." The band released a holiday EP in December 2008, titled
...And a Happy New Year. The EP included three new original tracks and a cover of the
Wham! song "
Last Christmas". In February 2009, The Maine and
We the Kings headlined the 'Secret Valentine' tour, along with
The Cab,
VersaEmerge and
There For Tomorrow. On March 10, 2009, the group premiered a music video for their song "Girls Do What They Want". In June 2009, the band signed to
Warner Bros. Records. "
Into Your Arms" was released on June 15, 2009, for
radio airplay as the album's lead single. The band re-issued a deluxe edition for ''Can't Stop, Won't Stop'' on July 14, 2009, via Warner Records. In July 2009, the band performed on the
Vans Warped Tour. The music video for "Into Your Arms" premiered on July 24, 2009, via their
MySpace page and was directed by Aaron Platt. In October and November, the group supported
Boys Like Girls on their tour in the US.
Black and White (2010–2011) The group worked with producer
Howard Benson on their second studio album and was recorded in California. O'Callaghan described the album as a raw feel, free and loose record that was inspired by classic American rock-n-roll. The song peaked at number 14 on the US
Rock Digital Song Sales chart. "Growing Up" was released on May 17, as the second single from the album. "
Right Girl" was made available for streaming on the group's
MySpace page on July 8. The song peaked at number 25 on the US Rock Digital Song Sales chart. The album debuted at number 16 on the
Billboard 200 and sold 22,634 copies first week.
Black & White won the 2010 AP Magazine Readers' Awards for Album of the Year. The music video for "Right Girl" premiered on November 24, and was directed by Loren Brinton. In November 2010, the group joined
Never Shout Never on the Harmony tour, where they had fans gather canned foods to help those in need. As a 'thank you' gift, both acts released a split EP titled
Split - EP. On December 29, 2010, The Maine released the short film
In Darkness and in Light on
iTunes. In February 2011, The Maine set off on an international tour that began in the Philippines. The group traveled to Australia and performed at the 2011
Soundwave festival. The group toured across
Europe starting in the
UK in March 2011. The band co-headlined a U.S. tour with
Augustana, lasting from early May to June 18, 2011. A music video for "Listen to Your Heart" premiered via
PureVolume on July 1, 2011. The band toured with
Taking Back Sunday and
Bad Rabbits in October 2011.
Pioneer (2011–2012) In June 2011, the band confirmed that they were working on their third studio album. The group performed a new track from the album, "Don't Give Up on "Us"" while on tour with Augustana and
Austin Gibbs. The album's lead single "Don't Give Up on "Us"" was made available for streaming on November 1, 2011. On that same day, the album's track listing and artwork were revealed. The album's second single "Some Day" was released on November 15, 2011. On December 2,
Pioneer was made available for streaming along with the song "Misery". The album was officially released on December 6, 2011. The album was released independently via Action Theory despite being with Warner at the time. O'Callaghan revealed that the group fought to release the album before Warner agreed under the condition that the band would self-release the record.
Pioneer peaked at number 90 on the
Billboard 200 and in its first week, sold 12,000 copies. In January and February 2012, the band supported All Time Low on their UK tour. The group also toured across Europe in February 2012. The band released a music video for "Misery" on February 16, 2012. They later headlined the Pioneer World Tour, with support from
Lydia and
Arkells in the spring of 2012. On July 27, a music video was released for "Like We Did (Windows Down)". On September 11, 2012, The Maine re-released
Pioneer as
Pioneer and The Good Love. The album, released via
Rude Records, contains six new tracks. They also released an EP version of the unreleased tracks under the name of
Good Love. In October and November, the group went on a co-headlining US tour with Mayday Parade and were supported by
The Postelles.
Forever Halloween (2013–2014) In February 2013, the group began recording their fourth studio album, working with producer
Brendan Benson. The album was recorded on an
analog tape, steering away from the use of computer editing techniques. On April 12, 2013, the band announced that their fourth studio album
Forever Halloween would be released on June 4, 2013. "Happy" was the first single released from the album on April 15, 2013. A promotional single titled, "Love and Drugs" was made available for streaming on May 7, 2013. A music video for the song "These Four Words" that premiered on
YouTube and
Vevo was released on the same day as the album. The single-shot video was directed by Daniel Gomes and the song is what frontman John O'Callaghan called the "most revealing song [he] has ever written." The album was released independently in the US in partnership with their management team 8123, via Universal Music in Canada, and Rude Records in Europe, UK, Australia and Japan. It sold over 10,000 copies in its first week, debuting at number 39 on the
Billboard 200. In October and November, the group co-headlined a US tour with
Anberlin. The band released a five-song acoustic EP titled
Imaginary Numbers on December 10, 2013. The first song from the EP, "Raining in Paris" was released November 5 via YouTube with a lyric video. The EP peaked at number 31 on the US
Independent Albums chart. They toured in the UK in April 2014, before heading over to South America. The group performed at the 2014 Vans Warped Tour. The track was taken from the deluxe edition of
Forever Halloween which was on June 17, 2014. The deluxe edition contains five additional bonus tracks, including "Ugly on the Inside".
American Candy (2015–2016) The group began teasing their fifth studio album in the summer of 2014, before heading out to
Heber, Arizona to write the album. It was recorded at Joshua Tree and was produced by Colby Wedgeworth. On January 6, 2015, the group revealed that their new album was titled
American Candy, and was released on March 31, 2015. The first single from the album, "English Girls", dropped on February 10, 2015. The second single from the album, "Miles Away" was released on March 10, 2015. The song debuted at #16 on the iTunes Alternative Chart on March 10, 2015. "Same Suit, Different Tie" was released via
SoundCloud the day before the album was set to release. To help promote the release, The Maine hosted "24 Hours of American Candy", where they live streamed their activities on the release day of
American Candy. The album peaked at number 37 on the
Billboard 200 and sold 15,000 copies first week. In support of the album, the group went on a headlining North American tour in the spring of 2015 with
Real Friends,
Knuckle Puck and The Technicolors. From late August to early October, the band went on The Free For All Tour where every show of the tour was free-of-charge. They joined Mayday Parade on the Black Lines tour throughout Europe from January to February 2016. The group also co-headlined a US tour with Mayday Parade in March 2016. The band were also on the main stage for the entirety of the 2016 Vans Warped Tour.
American Candy was nominated for Album of the Year at the 2016
Alternative Press Music Awards. followed by
Covers (Side B) in June 2016, each containing 3-4 covers of popular songs.
Lovely Little Lonely (2017–2018) Following 2016 Vans Warped Tour, the band headed into the studio to record their sixth studio album, scheduled for release in 2017. The group began recording the album in the fall of 2016 in
New York City. They spent a week at the Brooklyn Patch with Colby Wedgeworth who produced the album. Once the week came to an end, the group headed over to
Gualala, California to finish the rest of the album. The recording process was documented by the band and made into a mini
YouTube series titled
Miserable Youth. On January 19, 2017, the group announced that their sixth studio album would be titled,
Lovely Little Lonely and was released on April 7, 2017. Along with this announcement, they released the first single from the album, "Bad Behavior". The album peaked at number 32 on the
Billboard 200. The fourth single "How Do You Feel?" was released on August 11, 2017. The Maine created and headlined the first 8123 Fest in honor of their 10-year anniversary and was held in their hometown of Phoenix, Arizona at the Crescent Ballroom. In October and November, the group embarked on The Modern Nostalgia Tour and were joined by
Dreamers and
Night Riots. They performed at the Vans Warped Tour in 2018.
You Are OK (2018–2020) In October 2018, the group began working on their seventh studio album with producer Matt Squire. On December 6, 2018, frontman John O'Callaghan confirmed that recording for the album was complete. The title of the album,
You Are OK, was announced on January 16, 2019, along with the release of the lead single, "Numb Without You". O'Callaghan came up with the title and stated that the reason was none other "than to speak to myself." He continued, "Selfish as it may be, I need to hear those words often, and if they somehow resonate like they did with this someone across the world then I accidentally did at least a little good while I was alive." "My Best Habit" was released on February 22, 2019, as the album's second single. The album's third single, "Broken Parts" was released on March 22, 2019. Upon
You Are OKs release, lead guitarist Jared Monaco revealed he almost quit the group due to being caught in a place that forced him to balance his personal life with the band. The album peaked at number 52 on the
Billboard 200. In support of the album, the group toured across Europe, the US and Brazil from April to June 2019. During the US leg of the tour, they were joined by
Taking Back Sunday. The band embarked on the Mirror Tour in the fall of 2019.
Twin XL supported them during the tour.
XOXO: From Love and Anxiety in Real Time (2021–2022) In June 2020, O'Callaghan confirmed that they have begun recording their eighth studio album and that ten tracks had already been written for the album. The album was recorded in Arizona. The album's lead single, "
Sticky" was released on March 19, 2021. It was also the first song recorded on the album. The song peaked at number 16 on the US
Alternative Airplay chart. "April 7th" was released as the album's second single on April 7, 2021. The album's third single, "Lips" was released on May 28, 2021. "Pretender" was released as the album's fourth single on June 25, 2021.
XOXO: From Love and Anxiety in Real Time was officially released on July 9, 2021. The album peaked at number 32 on the US Independent Albums chart. The group went on a headlining tour in the US called the "XOXO Tour" that began in March 2022. In January 2022, the band released a new single titled, "
Loved You a Little" featuring
Taking Back Sunday and Charlotte Sands. The song peaked at number eight on the
Billboard Alternative Airplay chart and at number 14 on the
Rock Airplay chart. They performed at the So What?! Music Festival in May 2022. The group released another single in September 2022 titled "Box in a Heart", featuring
Renforshort. In October 2022, the group performed at the
When We Were Young Festival.
Self-titled album (2022–2024) In late 2022, The Maine began teasing their 9th album and confirmed its writing. The group was also announced to be a part of Sad Summer Fest's 2023 lineup. On April 5, 2023, the band revived its web series "Miserable Youth" for a third season dedicated to showcasing the album's production, with episodes being released weekly. The band officially announced their ninth album,
The Maine, on June 8, 2023. The album was released on August 1, 2023, as a nod to their label 8123. Along with this announcement, the group released two new singles: "
Blame" and "How to Exit a Room". "Blame" peaked at number 25 on the US Alternative Airplay chart. The album's fourth single, "
Thoughts I Have While Lying in Bed" was released on August 30. A new version of the track was released on November 24, featuring
Beach Weather. The song reached number 23 on the US Alternative Airplay chart. The group joined
Fall Out Boy on their So Much For (2our) Dust tour in February 2024. In May 2024, the band announced two shows in the Philippines for September as part of their the Sweet Sixteen tour.
Joy Next Door (2024–present) In July 2024, the group co-headlined the fifth anniversary of the Sad Summer Festival with Mayday Parade. On July 10, the band released a new single titled, "Touch". The release of the single signified the end of their self-titled era as the message "The Maine is Dead" shown in the music video of the song. Ahead of 8123 Fest 2025, the group released a surprise EP titled
Dyed (2008-2023) on January 15, 2025. The EP features nine tracks which were unreleased demos from each of their previous albums, with the artwork representing the colors from their respective records accompanied by specific dates within the song titles. On September 29, the group joined the
Jonas Brothers on their
Jonas20: Greetings from Your Hometown Tour in
Phoenix, Arizona, as a surprise guest performing "Black Butterflies and Deja Vu". Shortly after, O'Callaghan confirmed that they were working on their tenth studio album. On December 8, 2025, The Maine announced the "I Love You But I Chose The Maine" tour, their first headlining tour in over two years. On January 22, 2026, the band announced the title for their tenth studio album,
Joy Next Door, released on April 10, 2026. The band released the album's lead single "Die to Fall" on January 28. On February 25, the album's second single "Quiet Part Loud" was released. It was also announced that they would be performing on
The Kelly Clarkson Show to support the album's release. The band released the album's third single "Palms" on March 24. ==Musical style and influences==