Hinder formed in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, in 2001, when lead singer Austin John Winkler, guitarist Joe "Blower" Garvey, and drummer Cody Hanson came together, with bass player Cole Parker being recruited in 2002 during the recording of their debut EP Far from Close. That EP, released independently, moved a modest number of copies but was enough to catch the ear of major labels. By 2003 the band's classic lineup solidified further when Mark King joined as rhythm guitarist after Cole Parker's departure, providing rhythm guitar and backing vocals through the band's formative years , while Mike Rodden stepped in on bass. Rooted in post-grunge and hard rock, a louder, more powerful style with strong guitar riffs and drumming that emerged in the wake of 1990s grunge , Hinder built its sound on unapologetic hooks and arena-ready swagger, drawing from influences that ranged from Nirvana and Soundgarden to Guns N' Roses and Mötley Crüe.
The band's breakthrough came fast and loud. After a bidding war among major labels, the Far from Close EP generated enough interest from Atlantic, Roadrunner, and Universal Records to spark a bidding war, and Hinder ultimately signed with Universal Records in 2005 . Their major-label debut, Extreme Behavior, arrived that September and became an unlikely phenomenon: it peaked at number 6 on the Billboard 200 in November 2006, and its most successful single, "Lips of an Angel," reached number 3 on the Hot 100 . The album's success was staggering by any commercial measure, achieving 3x Platinum certification by the RIAA in 2008 and selling over 2.7 million copies in the U.S. alone , even as critics remained sharply divided on the band's merits. The lineup behind that success, Winkler, Garvey, Hanson, Rodden, and King, became the classic Hinder five-piece that defined the band's commercial peak.
Hinder's momentum carried through the rest of the decade. Their 2008 follow-up, "Take It to the Limit," debuted at No. 4 on the Billboard 200 and cemented Hinder as one of rock's biggest breakout acts of the 2000s , and that success launched them onto major stages around the world, performing alongside rock heavyweights such as Aerosmith, Mötley Crüe, Nickelback, 3 Doors Down and Papa Roach . In 2007, the band's home-state impact was formally recognized when the band was inducted into the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame . They continued releasing music through the turn of the decade with All American Nightmare (2010) and Welcome to the Freakshow (2012), though commercial returns cooled. A major turning point came in 2013 when founding lead vocalist Austin John Winkler left Hinder, marking a major turning point for the band, which began searching for a new frontman and eventually recruited Marshal Dutton as their new lead singer .
With Dutton fronting the band, Hinder entered a new chapter, releasing When the Smoke Clears (2015) and The Reign (2017) and continuing to tour steadily. After the longest gap in their recording history, the band returned in 2025 with new material, as their latest album, "Back to Life," was released on May 23, 2025, via Evil Teen Records, marking their first new album in 7 years . Today the band still features original members Cody Hanson, Joe Garvey, and Mike Rodden alongside Dutton, and continues to draw crowds decades after its formation. The band has kept touring steadily, sharing bills with genre mainstays like Creed, Three Doors Down, and Tonic, while also capturing the attention of younger Gen Z and Millennial audiences , a testament to the staying power of the arena-rock sound they helped define in the mid-2000s.
For this archive, Hinder holds a special place. Wayne Dennon photographed the band across 10 shows between 2006 and 2010, right in the thick of their commercial peak, capturing performances in 4 different cities across 2 states as Extreme Behavior and Take It to the Limit propelled them into arenas alongside acts like Aerosmith and Nickelback. Those nights behind the lens left the archive with 285 photographs of the band, images that have since been viewed 235,283 times by visitors revisiting the era when Hinder's brand of hard rock swagger ruled the charts. Preserved here as part of Wayne's broader body of concert photography dating back to 2002, these frames stand as a lasting visual record of a band that, for a few loud and unforgettable years, was impossible to ignore.
