The band formed in 2005 when bassist and primary songwriter Adam Lohrbach left the long-running first-generation pop-punk act Home Grown to form his own group. Featuring singer Ashley Costello (who usually goes by just "Ash"), guitarist and keyboardist Keith Drover, guitarist Mike Schoolden, and drummer Russell Dixon, New Years Day began gigging locally and building up an online presence via MySpace and other social networking sites. By early 2006, they were signed to TVT Records after a flirtation with Decaydance, Pete Wentz's Fueled by Ramen-affiliated vanity label. A self-titled five-song EP was released in the fall of 2006, featuring the catchy first single "I Was Right," which garnered some MTV buzz. The full-length debut by New Years Day, My Dear, followed in the spring of 2007, featuring a song co-written with Justin Pierre of Motion City Soundtrack.

In 2008, TVT went out of business, and Lohrbach and Schoolden left the band. The remaining members posted new material on social networking sites in 2009, and were added to the Warped Tour in 2010. The following year, they signed with the Hollywood Waste label and released The Mechanical Heart EP. Their long-awaited second full-length, Victim to Villain, appeared in mid-2013 via Century Media Records while the band was on that summer's Warped Tour. Bass player Tyler Burgess and drummer Nick Rossi joined the group in 2014, and the EP Epidemic arrived later that year and hit the Billboard Hard Rock Albums chart. With the lineup of Costello, Burgess, Rossi, and guitarist Nikki Misery, and still delivering their theatrical brand of pop-punk, another Warped Tour and the LP Malevolence followed in 2015, as did the band's first headlining tour. ~ Stewart Mason & Marcy Donelson