Formed by Jesse Wainwright and Johnny Philippon, they made their debut in June 2004 with their album Guilty by Association after winning CFOX-FM's Seeds contest, and won Favourite New Group of the Year at the 2005 Canadian Music Awards.

With their second single "Hearts that Bleed", the band enjoyed a top-ten slot at MuchMusic and rock radio.

During the summer of 2007, State of Shock went on a Canada-wide tour supporting bands such as Nickelback and Puddle of Mudd, and opening for Aerosmith in front of 27,000 people at Sarnia Bayfest.

In 2014, Jesse Wainwright (guitar, backing vocals) teamed up with country singer Stacey McKitrick as a new country duo, Austin Belle, with Kadooh (Simon Clow) playing guitar for Austin Belle's live shows.

Cordova Bay Records 1 Weren't produced into physical singles, but music videos were made for them.