Three Days Grace is a Canadian rock band formed in Norwood, Ontario, in 1992 originally as Groundswell. Groundswell played in various local Norwood backyard parties and area establishments before disbanding in 1995 and regrouping in 1997 under its current name.
Based in Toronto, the band's original line-up consisted of guitarist and lead vocalist Adam Gontier, drummer and backing vocalist Neil Sanderson, and bassist Brad Walst. In 2003, Barry Stock was recruited as the band's lead guitarist, making them a quartet. In 2013, Gontier left the band and was replaced by Walst's younger brother Matt, who was a longtime songwriter for the band and was previously the lead singer of My Darkest Days. In 2024, Gontier officially rejoined the band with Walst also remaining as a singer, making them a dual-vocalist band, as well as a quintet for the first time since their genesis as Groundswell.
Currently signed to RCA Records, they have released eight studio albums: Three Days Grace in 2003, One-X in 2006, Life Starts Now in 2009, Transit of Venus in 2012, Human in 2015, Outsider in 2018, Explosions in 2022 and Alienation in 2025. The first three albums have been RIAA certified 3× platinum, 5× platinum, and 4× platinum, respectively, and the following two have both been certified gold, in the United States. In Canada, they have been certified by Music Canada as platinum, triple platinum, and double platinum, respectively. In the United Kingdom and New Zealand, their second album, One-X, was certified gold by the British Phonographic Industry and the Recorded Music NZ, respectively. The band has 21 No. 1 songs on the Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart and had 3 No. 1 hits on the Alternative Songs chart.
As of 2022, the band has sold over 10 million albums and singles combined worldwide.
History 1992–2002: Early years The band started out as a quintet named "Groundswell" in Norwood, Ontario, in 1992. Groundswell released one full-length album, Wave of Popular Feeling in 1995. The band's line-up consisted of lead vocalist Adam Gontier, drummer Neil Sanderson, bassist Brad Walst, lead guitarist Phil Crowe, and rhythm guitarist Joe Grant. Most of the members were attending high school when the band formed. By the end of 1995, the band had broken up.
In 1997, Gontier, Sanderson, and Walst regrouped as "Three Days Grace". According to Gontier, the name refers to a sense of urgency, with the question being whether someone could change something in their life if they had only three days to make a change. Once in Toronto, the band became acquainted with local producer Gavin Brown. They gave him several years' worth of material which they had created, and he "...picked out what he called 'the golden nuggets'", according to Gontier. Brown and the band polished the songs and created a demo album, which they gave to EMI Music Publishing Canada. The record label wanted to hear more material, and with Brown producing, the band created the song, "I Hate Everything About You", which attracted the interest of several record labels. Three Days Grace were soon signed to Jive Records after being sought out by the company's then-president Barry Weiss. Additionally, the group signed with Zomba in 2002.
2003–2005: Three Days Grace
They moved to Long View Farm, a studio in North Brookfield, Massachusetts, to record their debut album. The group completed half of the album at Long View, while the rest was done at Bearsville Studios in Bearsville, New York. The album Three Days Grace was finished in Woodstock, New York, and released on July 22, 2003. Most of the material was influenced by the "crazy things" they had seen growing up. At the time, Gontier recalled, "I don't find it easy to write about happy shit." To support the album, the band released their first single, "I Hate Everything About You" (the song whose demo had gotten the band a record deal) on April 28, 2003. The song received heavy airplay and rapidly became widely recognizable, and was labelled as the band's "breakout hit". Gontier called its success, "a nice payoff [...] We put a heck of a lot of time into the record. To finally see it being played, it's pretty cool." The song peaked at No. 1 on the Canadian rock chart becoming their first number-one hit in the country. The song reached No. 2 on the US Billboard Alternative Airplay chart and No. 4 on the Mainstream Rock chart. To date, it is the band's longest-running song on both charts, staying on for 45 and 46 weeks, respectively. It also reached number 55 on the Billboard Hot 100. Gavin Brown who produced the track, earned the group a Juno Award for Producer of the Year in 2004. In 2003, the group was named Favourite New Artist at the CASBY Awards.
The album peaked at No. 9 on the Canadian Albums Chart and No. 69 on the Billboard 200, and was certified platinum in Canada by MC, 3× Platinum in the US by the RIAA, and gold by the Recorded Music NZ. The album's second single "Just Like You" was released on March 29, 2004. The song became the first of many of the band's songs to top the Alternative Airplay and Mainstream Rock charts. "Home" was released on October 4, 2004, as the third single from the album. Both singles reached the Billboard Hot 100 at number 55 and number 90, respectively. The fourth and final single "Wake Up" was released exclusively in Canada on January 10, 2005. The band's first three singles from the album have been certified 9× platinum, 2× platinum and platinum, respectively, by the RIAA.
Three Days Grace was met with mixed-to-favourable reviews. Dave Doray of IGN said of the album, "Almost every single song from the Three Days Grace track list is heavy and catchy, with chewy chunks of assurance and fury thrown in for added measure." AllMusic reviewer Heather Phares criticized the album for its simplicity, but praised the group's "tight songwriting" and "unexpectedly pretty choruses" that make them standout among their peers. However, Spin gave a negative review calling it, "generic Canadian gripe rock."
In support of their major label debut, the group joined Trapt as an opening act on a US tour from July to September 2003. In late 2003, Barry Stock joined the group after the band was auditioning for a second guitar player. Stock was introduced to the group by his manager in Toronto after they needed some help with their gear. The group joined Nickelback on The Long Road Tour between October and November 2003. The group embarked on a headlining tour called the Three Days Grace World Tour throughout 2004. They also joined Evanescence on a North American Tour in July 2004, as well as Hoobastank on the Let it Out Tour in November.
The band performed at the 2004 MuchMusic Video Awards. At the event, "I Hate Everything About You" was nominated for Best Rock Video, as well as the band themselves for Favourite Canadian Group. They were nominated for New Group of the Year at the 2004 Juno Awards. The group was also nominated for Modern Rock Artist of the Year at the 2004 Billboard Music Awards. The band appeared as themselves in the 2004 film Raise Your Voice. Performing the songs "Home" and "Are You Ready?", Gontier recalled not wanting to partake in the film, stating at the time he thought was "not cool at all." However, he said their former managers "suggested it would be good exposure for them since they were a newer band."
2006–2008: One-X
Around this time, Gontier developed an addiction to the prescription drug OxyContin. After finishing the tour for their first album, the band knew they could not continue with the condition he was in, so in 2005, with the support of his family, friends, and band members, Gontier checked himself into the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) in Toronto. While in treatment, Gontier began writing lyrics for songs regarding how he felt and what he was going through in rehabilitation.
Gontier successfully completed treatment at CAMH. The band found a place suitable for further songwriting in Northern Ontario, in a cottage where they experimented on, tested, and practiced new songs. After three months at the cottage, they had about finished what would be their second album. Gontier contributed lyrics about his experiences in rehab; the first single from One-X, titled "Animal I Have Become", features lyrics Gontier had written while getting sober. In a 2006 interview, Gontier said that the album's material was more personal to him than the band's previous work because the inspiration had come out of his experiences with despondence, drug abuse, and rehab, which had constituted the past two years of his life.
One-X was released on June 13, 2006, and was produced by Howard Benson. This also marked Stock's first effort with the band. The album peaked at No. 2 on the Canadian Albums Chart and at No. 5 on the Billboard 200, selling 78,000 copies in the US in its first week of release. Instead of participating in Narcotics Anonymous, Gontier launched the "Three Days to Change" tour doing free concerts at treatment centres, shelters, group homes and detention centres across North America. In November 2006, Gontier performed with the band at a special show at the CAMH in Toronto, where he had gone for his own rehab. Following the performance, Gontier fielded questions from the audience. CAMH footage, interviews and live performances were filmed as part of the "Behind the Pain" documentary.
"Animal I Have Become" was released as the lead single from One-X on April 10, 2006, and became one of Three Days Grace's most successful singles, becoming 2006's most played rock song in Canada. The song spent seven weeks at number one on the Mainstream Rock chart and won Rock Single of the Year at the 2006 Billboard Music Awards. "Pain" was released as the album's second single on September 19, and topped the Canada Rock chart. The song peaked at number 44 on the Billboard Hot 100, thus becoming the band's highest-charting single on the Hot 100 to date. It also topped the Billboard Alternative Airplay and Mainstream Rock charts. "Never Too Late" was released as the third single on May 7, 2007. The song reached number two on the Canada Rock chart and number one on the US Mainstream Rock chart. It was nominated for Best Rock Video at the 2007 MuchMusic Video Awards. "Riot" was released as the fourth and final single on November 6, 2007, and reached the top 20 on the Mainstream Rock chart. The album helped Three Days Grace become the No. 1 rock artist by airplay in the US and Canada in 2007, with Billboard ranking them as Rock Artist of the Year. In 2007, One-X was nominated for Album of the Year at the Juno Awards. The album was certified triple platinum in Canada, 5× platinum in the US, silver in the UK, and gold in New Zealand. All four singles have received multi-platinum status by the RIAA, with "Animal I Have Become" certified 8× platinum, "Never Too Late" certified 6× platinum and both "Pain" and "Riot" certified 4× platinum. Additionally, the songs "Gone Forever", "Time of Dying" and "Get Out Alive" have been certified platinum, while "It's All Over", "Let It Die" and "Over and Over" received gold status by the RIAA.
Three Days Grace toured the US and Canada throughout the second half of 2006 and all of 2007 in support of One-X with Staind and Breaking Benjamin. The band also supported Nickelback on their All the Right Reasons Tour from February to March 2007. In early 2008, they toured across the US alongside Seether and Breaking Benjamin. A recording of a concert from the tour, Live at the Palace 2008, was released on August 19, 2008.
2009–2011: Life Starts Now