Blue October caught the attention of the major record labels while working with producer dB late 1998 in a studio setup at Justin's home in San Marcos TX., and in 1999 was signed to Universal Records for the release of their second album, Consent to Treatment. The band was dropped by Universal Records in 2002.


2003: History For Sale


After being dropped, the band got together with new guitarist C.B. Hudson, recorded and self-released History for Sale. Due to larger-than-expected album sales, the band was re-signed to Universal and the album was subsequently re-released on Universal. History for Sale was largely a response to the control the label had placed on the group during the Consent to Treatment production process. This is evident in songs such as "Somebody" and "Inner Glow."

Blue October received a larger audience as their single "Calling You," featured on the American Wedding movie soundtrack, and began to get radio play in Dallas. The band was invited to play at a large annual concert in Dallas, TX hosted by local radio station, KDGE 102.1 (The Edge), known as Edgefest in 2003. Blue October main evented the free pre-show, with The Rocket Summer, Socialburn, and SouthFM, on Friday and then played the following day for the actual concert event. "Calling You" was played in heavy rotation on KDGE for promotion of the event.

Later, hits off of History for Sale included "Inner Glow" and "Razorblade." However, "Calling You" remained the group's largest mainstream success until their 2006 single, "Hate Me."


2006: Foiled


The band made their network television premiere on April 14, 2006, performing "Hate Me," the first single from Foiled on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. They appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on June 28, 2006. Blue October was also on Late Night with Conan O'Brien in 2006. On November 14, 2006 Blue October opened for the Rolling Stones in Boise, Idaho. Hate Me peaked at number two on Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks chart. The music video for "Hate Me" debuted on VH1, later making a splash at No. 13 on VH1's user-controlled video countdown show VSpot Top 20 Countdown. It eventually peaked at No. 12 for the week ending on May 5, 2006. "Into the Ocean", the second single from the album, was released on July 17, 2006. The music video for the song debuted at number three on VH1 Top 20 Video Countdown during the show's final week of 2006 and reached the number one spot in mid-February 2007. The next single from the band was "She's My Ride Home", which they performed on Late Night with Conan O'Brien on April 25, 2007.

A new, updated version of Foiled, titled Foiled for the Last Time, was released on September 25, 2007. This contained a new remix of the band's minor hit from History for Sale, "Calling You." A new video for "Calling You" began airing on VH1 in late 2007.

As a result of reaching a new audience that Blue October has found with its Foiled album, Blue October has recently undergone an expansion of its tour locations. Originally restricted to Texas and parts of the Midwest and Southwest United States, Blue October is now touring locations covering the entire continental United States, in addition adding locations in Alaska, Hawaii, Canada, Mexico, England, France, Ireland, Scotland, Germany and the Netherlands to their schedule.

In August 2008, Justin featured in a sold out 4-city tour with Stephenie Meyer, author of the Twilight series. During this tour, Justin premiered two new songs, "Blue Skies" and "My Never," which would be included on the band's fifth studio album.


2009: Approaching Normal


The band's fifth studio album, Approaching Normal, was released on March 24, 2009. It was distributed via—as its predecessors—Universal; however, the band opted to use a different production style, by using digital audio workstations like FL Studio instead of recording it with live instruments. Also, rather than Justin Furstenfeld producing the album, Approaching Normal was produced by Steve Lillywhite (U2, Peter Gabriel, Dave Matthews Band). The album debuted at #13 on the Billboard 200 chart. The band released two versions of the album, each with a different bonus track: an "explicit" version, with "The End" as the bonus track, and a "clean" version, with "Graceful Dancing" as the bonus track. "Graceful Dancing" was also released in late 2008 as a "special gift" to fans signed under the band's email list.

The first single released from the album was "Dirt Room" on December 23, 2008.

"Say It" was released as the second single on April 24, 2009. The Song was first performed at Edgefest 17 on April 27th 2008 in Dallas, TX.

In May 2009, Blue October's show in Pittsburgh was cancelled by the Fire Marshal and the Pittsburgh Police Department due to overcrowding and unsafe conditions. Not wanting to disappoint fans, the band setup their gear on the corner outside the venue and played a mini-set to the delight of fans.

On October 22, 2009, Blue October announced that the rest of the tour had been canceled due to Justin Furstenfield suffering a severe mental anxiety attack. He returned to perform at Stubb's Theater in Texas a month or two after his attack.

Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_October