Dance Gavin Dance is an American rock band from Sacramento, California, and formed in 2005. The band currently consists of Tilian Pearson (clean vocals), Jon Mess (unclean vocals), Will Swan (lead guitar), Tim Feerick (bass guitar), and Matthew Mingus (drums, percussion). The band formerly included lead vocalists Jonny Craig and Kurt Travis. Swan and Mingus are the only band members who have appeared on every studio album while Mess has performed on each album but Happiness.

Upon their development, Dance Gavin Dance released their debut EP, Whatever I Say Is Royal Ocean in 2006 and signed to Rise Records thereafter. The band released their full-length debut studio album, Downtown Battle Mountain, in May 2007, which spawned the singles "And I Told Them I Invented Times New Roman" and "Lemon Meringue Tie". Throughout 2008, the band's vocalist Jonny Craig and guitarist Sean O'Sullivan left the band and were replaced by vocalist Kurt Travis (later of A Lot Like Birds) and guitarist Zac Garren. The band released their second full-length album, Dance Gavin Dance, in August. The album peaked at No. 172 on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart and No. 26 on the Top Independent Albums chart. Vocalist Jon Mess and bass guitarist Eric Lodge left the band before the album's release. Bassist Jason Ellis replaced Lodge. Happiness was released as the band's third studio album in June 2009, peaking at No. 145 on the Billboard 200 Albums chart and No. 30 on the Top Independent Albums chart and is the group's first release in which guitarist Will Swan pursued screaming vocals along with guitar parts for an album.

In 2010, original vocalists Jonny Craig and Jon Mess, and bass guitarist Eric Lodge returned to the band and recorded their fourth studio album, Downtown Battle Mountain II, released in March 2011, charting at No. 82 on the Billboard 200 Albums chart, No. 13 on the Independent Albums chart, and No. 2 on the Hot Rock Albums chart, becoming their highest-selling album thus far.

Craig and Lodge left the band throughout 2012, leading to vocalist Tilian Pearson, bass guitarist Tim Feerick, and guitarist Josh Benton joining the band. The band released their fifth studio album, Acceptance Speech in October 2013, achieving commercial success, charting at No. 42 on the Billboard 200, No. 13 on the Alternative Albums chart, No. 7 on the Independent Albums chart, and No. 6 on the Top Hard Rock Albums chart. Benton left the band shortly after the album was released. The band released their sixth studio album, Instant Gratification, in April 2015, charting at No. 32 on the Billboard 200. In late 2015, the band embarked on their 10 Year Anniversary Tour with supporting acts A Lot Like Birds, Slaves, Strawberry Girls, and Dayshell. In 2016, the group released their live album, Tree City Sessions, and their seventh studio album, Mothership. The following year, the band released a cover of the Bruno Mars single "That's What I Like" for Punk Goes Pop Vol. 7, a stand-alone single "Summertime Gladness", and toured on the Vans Warped Tour. They are set to release their eighth studio album, Artificial Selection, in June 2018.