SR-71 (band)

Their second studio album, entitled Tomorrow, was released on October 22, 2002, and was produced by Neal Avron (Fall Out Boy, Yellowcard), Butch Walker (American Hi-Fi, Avril Lavigne), David Bendeth (Underoath, Breaking Benjamin) and frontman Mitch Allan himself. On this album, Mitch Allan contributed songwriting to all the songs in the album, with most of them written only by him, except a few, written along with Butch Walker, Kevin Kadish, and the other members of the band. It was the band's first album with new drummer John Allen.

The album was much darker, and proved to be less successful than its predecessor, and peaked only at number 138 on the

Despite the commercial failure, RCA still heavily promoted a supporting tour for the album from late 2002 until 2003. The tour also proved unsuccessful. Soon tensions began to arise in the band, resulting in the departure of guitarist Mark Beauchemin after the end of the tour in 2003. Bassist Jeff Reid also left at this time, due to lung cancer, which he died from the following year.^[2] Mark Beauchemin went on playing guitar for soft rock artist Vanessa Carlton.

The band was then joined by new members guitarist Pat DeMent and bassist Mike Ruocco, only to be dropped by their label, RCA Records, not long afterward.

Here We Go Again and decline in popularity (2003–2005)

Though without a label at the time, the band went on to record an album of new material by themselves, during mid to late 2003. All songwriting on the album was done by Mitch Allan, with the exception of two tracks co-written by drummer John Allen, and one old-penned hidden track co-written a year earlier by Kevin Kadish. All production, mixing and mastering was also done by Mitch Allan.

In 2004, the band finally found a new label, a Japanese label under the name Crown Japan, who released their third album Here We Go Again on May 21, 2004, in Japan only. The album was available outside Japan only through imports on the band's official website. The album gained little attention and entered no charts, proving to be, again, a commercial flop. Despite that, one song on the album, "1985", was then re-recorded by the band's close friends Bowling for Soup for their album A Hangover You Don't Deserve, released later in 2004. "1985" was released as a single and reached number 23 on the Billboard Hot 100. Frontman Mitch Allan and drummer John Allen were still credited for the song on the Bowling for Soup album and single, along with Bowling for Soup frontman Jaret Reddick. It was former SR-71 producer and collaborator Butch Walker who produced the album and single. Mitch Allan also had a cameo in BFS's music video for "1985".

The album's title track "Here We Go Again" was also re-recorded in 2006, by

The first song on the album, "Axl Rose", was released as a single later, with "Here We Go Again" and "All American" as B-sides. The Peter Gabriel cover "In Your Eyes" was also released a single, and played frequently during the 2004–05 tour by the band.

Hiatus and cancelled Mitch Allan solo album (2006–2009)

Though the band still played some dates in 2005, it stayed inactive since, with Mitch Allan starting to play small solo club shows around 2006. At his solo shows, he played SR-71 songs, as well as some previously unreleased solo material, including a new fan favorite song called "Superman". Allan then announced that he started working on his first solo album. He said the album will be called Clawing My Way to the Middle and released in late 2007, with sessions commencing in Los Angeles and Baltimore in the spring of 2006 with record producer Ben Moody. Since it was announced the album would be released in late 2007, it was pushed back a few times in 2008 and 2009, and now it is unknown when or if the album will be released.

Allan kept playing solo club shows around the Hollywood area through 2007, when the band announced that they will be officially going into an indefinite hiatus after a one last show in Henderson, Nevada, on August 18, 2007, at the Sunset Station, along with Vertical Horizon, Nine Days and Marcy Playground.

While keeping a low profile on performances, Mitch Allan has worked as a songwriter and record producer with many artists including

In January 2008, Mitch Allan released his debut single with a music video on his Myspace page. The song, titled "Make Me High" was a soft remake of an old SR-71 song called "My World", from their 2002 album Tomorrow. Allan has also said that the SR-71 song "Mosquito" from their 2004 album Here We Go Again will also be re-recorded for his solo album. Allan said he was working with his former SR-71 bandmates on his solo album. There has since been no news of the album's production since then.

In 2009, Allan launched a weekly event in Hollywood where he and other notable songwriters meet up and play covers and original tunes acoustically to small crowds. Allan was then involved, along with former Evanescence guitarist Ben Moody in a new contest for finding a teen singer sensation.

Also in 2009, drummer John Allen was involved as the lead singer of the new hard rock band Charm City Devils. The band toured as part of Mötley Crüe's Crüe Fest 2 tour in summer 2009. Their first album Let's Rock and Roll, included one song co-written and produced by Mitch Allan.

Reunion (2009–2010)

On July 25, 2009, the band reunited for a one-off performance at the Wicker Park Bucktown Arts and Music Festival in Chicago, playing a full set on the Center Stage.

On October 13, 2009, Mitch Allan announced on his Myspace page that SR-71 will be playing another one-off reunion show at the Bourbon Street in hometown

On October 22, 2010, Allan, through his Twitter account, revealed that SR-71's third album, Here We Go Again, would finally be released in the United States. On Thanksgiving Day, 2010, the album was made available as a digital download. The original album tracks were remastered and three live bonus tracks were added.^[citation needed] Following this, the band's status went inactive once again.^{[citation needed]}

Musical style and influences

SR-71 has been described as

Members

This section needs to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (October 2020)

Final lineup

• Mitch Allan – lead vocals, rhythm guitar (1998–2010)
• John Allen – drums, percussion, backing vocals (2001–2010)
• Pat DeMent – lead guitar, backing vocals (2003–2010)
• Mike Ruocco – bass, backing vocals (2003–2010)

Former members

• Mark Beauchemin – lead guitar, keyboards, backing vocals (1998–2003)
• Jeff Reid – bass, keyboards, backing vocals (1998–2003) (died 2004)
• Dan Garvin – drums, percussion, backing vocals (1998–2001)

Discography

Studio albums

Compilation appearances

• Cool Traxx! 2 (2000) – "Last Man on the Moon"
• Listen to What the Man Said (2001) – "My Brave Face"^[14]
• Loser Soundtrack (2000) – "Right Now"
• A Very Special Christmas 5 (2001) – "Christmas Is the Time to Say I Love You"
• Splashdown Soundtrack (2001) – "Right Now"
• Crossing All Over Vol. 13 (2001) – "Right Now"
• The New Guy Soundtrack (2002) – "Let It Whip"^[15]
• Slap Her... She's French (2002) – "Right Now"

The song "Right Now" also appears in the PlayStation 2 game Splashdown.

Singles

Notes

• A.
  Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles
  .