The Gin Blossoms began in typical fashion - months of rehearsal followed by a shaky debut performance on Christmas night 1987. The lineup would change through the years but the band that night featured Jesse Valenzuela on vocals, Doug Hopkins on guitars, and Bill Leen on Bass.

By May 1988 the band solidified under the more familiar line-up, with Robin Wilson taking over as lead vocalist, Jesse moving over to guitar and vocals, Hopkins & Leen reprising their roles, and Phillip Rhodes joining as the band's new drummer. A relentless touring schedule quickly earned them Best Rock Band honors in a Phoenix New Times Reader's Poll. That award in turn, landed them a much-coveted spot at the South by Southwest Music Conference in 1989 and they never looked back. With 1992's album “New Miserable Experience” which garnered a string of Top ten Hits and sold 3 million copies, the band rocketed into popularity throughout the 1990’s.
By the end of the decade band members were pursuing separate projects, but the new millennium jump-started with a Gin Blossoms reunion show in Tempe, Arizona and an 80-date US tour in 2002. Once again they never looked back, taking up where they left off with their unique blend of tuneful songs with a kick. In 2006 they released a new album, “Major Lodge Victory,” and his year finds them once again criss-crossing the U.S. Fans can hear their hit "Follow You Down" in the box office smash, How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days.