Audiovent (originally Vent) formed in the early 1990s in Calabasas, California, when Incubus frontman Brendan Boyd’s younger brother Jason began jamming with Incubus guitarist Mike Einziger’s stepbrother Paul Fried. Einziger’s younger brother Ben joined soon after, then drummer Jamin Wilcox completed the lineup as the group’s members entered high school.

After primarily covering music from bands like Nirvana and Metallica, then jamming nine-minute-long songs (inspired by Pink Floyd) at house parties, the band later took inspiration from The Beatles and Led Zeppelin to release shorter songs.

After a four song demo in 1998 (as Vent), Papa’s Dojo followed in 1999. It sold several thousand copies and quickly led to a record deal with Atlantic Records. Their major label debut was recorded quickly but the band then wanted to rework the songs, write some new ones and find the right person to mix the music, eventually choosing Chris Lord-Alge (Prince, Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen).

The band toured the US extensively in early 2002 opening for Bush and Adema, followed by the release of Dirty Sexy Knights In Paris in late June where it spent one week at #200 on the Billboard 200. A Locobazooka summer tour with Sevendust, Filter, Gravity Kills, Nonpoint, Reveille & Mushroomhead immediately followed. In August the band made an appearance on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno and opened for Our Lady Peace.

That month, “The Energy” reached the top 20 on both the Mainstream Rock and Alternative Songs charts, putting the album back on the Billboard 200 at the higher peak of #156 that September. After some performances overseas (UK, Germany, Wales, France), a US tour with Theory Of A Deadman & Saliva ran from October through December as their second single “Looking Down” climbed to the top 30 on the Mainstream Rock Chart. The band closed the year out with a live performance for MTV from The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame.

In 2003, the band began to split apart due to creative differences with Wilcox leaving that March, replaced by Reel Big Fish drummer Ryland Steen. Despite plans to enter the studio in early 2004 armed with nineteen new songs, Einziger would later share that members wouldn’t compromise and there was too much conflict in the writing process to move forward, so Audiovent instead broke up that year. Fried and Einziger formed the band Agent Sparks in 2005. Boyd pursused acting. The Lost Demos Vol. 1 surfaced in 2008.

A 2018 reunion tour of the southwest US with Hoobastank was canceled, but the band still performed on January 11, 2019 at the legendary Viper Room in Hollywood, CA.