Albany, New York-based pop punk band State Champs began in 2010, basing their quick-paced and emotive sound on the influence of masters of the genre like Fall Out Boy, The Story So Far and New Found Glory.
Based around Derek DiScanio's wailing vocals, the band was filled out by guitarists Tyler Szalkowski and Tony Diaz and bassist William Goodermote; they were eventually joined by drummer Evan Ambrosio, After a demo circulated, the band released the Overslept EP in 2012, and followed with full-length The Finer Things in 2013. An acoustic revamp of The Finer Things - The Acoustic Things - was released in late 2014. One year later, the band released their second LP, Around the World and Back, on Pure Noise Records.