Hawthorne Heights is an American rock band formed in Dayton, Ohio, in 2001. Originally called A Day in the Life, their lineup consists of JT Woodruff (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), Matt Ridenour (bass, backing vocals) and Mark McMillon (lead guitar, unclean vocals).

The band had commercial success with their first two albums, The Silence in Black and White (2004), and If Only You Were Lonely (2006), both achieving RIAA gold certification. Their second album peaked at No. 1 on Billboard's Independent Albums chart and No. 3 on the Billboard 200 chart. They are also well known for their 2006 single, "Saying Sorry", which reached gold status and reached No. 7 on the Billboard Hot Modern Rock Tracks chart. On November 24, 2007, rhythm guitarist and unclean vocalist Casey Calvert (son of Greg Calvert of Gary and the Hornets) died, leaving the band a four-piece. Their third album and first without Calvert, Fragile Future, was released in August 2008, surprisingly through Victory Records again, after a lengthy legal battle between the two parties.

The band's fourth album, Skeletons (2010), was No. 50 on the Billboard 200. The band's former label, Victory, released their first greatest hits album, entitled Midwesterners: The Hits, in November 2010. Shortly afterward, Hawthorne Heights left Wind-up Records to begin their own record label, Cardboard Empire. Via their label, the band released an EP trilogy, beginning with Hate, released in August 2011, followed by Hope in June 2012. After signing with Red River Entertainment in 2013, the band postponed the release of the third EP in the trilogy and released a full-length concept album titled Zero, in June 2013. Hawthorne Heights played on the 2013 Vans Warped Tour.

In June 2014, original drummer Eron Bucciarelli left the band. In January 2015, it was announced that original lead guitarist Micah Carli had also quit. Later in 2014, the band released Hurt, the third EP of the trilogy. The band's sixth studio album, Bad Frequencies, followed in 2018 and then their seventh album, The Rain Just Follows Me, in September 2021 via Pure Noise Records.