Just Boys was formed in Tampa, Florida in 1976 by Terry Carolan; guitar/vocals/keyboards, Bobby Woodrich; bass/vocals and Gary Heslin; drums/vocals. For about two years the band played frequently in the Tampa Bay area. The group also made regular trips to the recording studio, resulting in a single released in 1977 on the band’s Counterfeit Records label. Through great assistance of their quasi-manager/benefactor and friend Gary Littleton, the record had domestic and international distribution with both Bomp Records and Jem Records. Littleton’s efforts also helped spark the interest of Arista Records president, Clive Davis.

While often mislabeled as a punk or new wave band, Just Boys were a melodic rock band with strong pop tendencies who fit better into the Power Pop category. They were primarily an original music group, anchored by the songwriting of Terry Carolan, but the group also performed unique renditions of select cover tunes in their live shows.

In 1977, shortly after the release of their record, Gary Heslin left the band to join Shades, another Tampa/St Pete group. He was replaced on drums and vocals by Ral Spera and the group continued to perform, record and shop for a record deal. Between late 1977 and mid 1978 Just Boys made numerous attempts to expand to a four piece band, so they could more accurately reproduce the arrangements of their recordings when playing live; Tim Scott McConnell, joined for a short time as lead vocalist/frontman, and Ritchie Quik joined later as lead guitarist and backup singer. Ultimately Just Boys remained a three piece band and settled for fuller production in the recording studio and pared down arrangements onstage.

In mid 1978, on a wave of local recognition, minor success from the release of their record, and serious interest from Arista Records, the group decided to go to Los Angeles to take advantage of the burgeoning punk/new wave/power pop scene, and to be in the heart of the record industry. In LA, Just Boys were signed to a management and booking contract with Gold Hill Music, a publishing and management company whose other clients included Stephen Stills and Firefall. The company began grooming the group and booked them in a variety of LA area venues, including such legendary showcase clubs as The Starwood and The Troubadour.

Los Angeles proved to be difficult to adapt to for the young and somewhat naive band. Sadly, after a mere four months of performing in LA and pursuing a record contract, Just Boys started to unravel and all of their hard earned accomplishments unraveled along with them. By fall of 1978 the band threw in the towel, leaving only their debut single as a legacy.

In a serendipitous, but unexpected, turn of events, the band reunited to play the International Pop Overthrow show in Austin, Texas in September 2013.  It was the first time the band had performed together in thirty five years.  They were joined onstage by one of the former short term fourth members; Michael Heyman.  In 2015 a book was released, titled "Just Boys: Legends In Their Own Minds", chronicling the band's calamitous story.  At the same time, remastered versions of all of the band's recordings were made available as a digital album, most of which had been previously unreleased.

Over the years Just Boys songs were included on various compilation albums, but in 2022 a unique opportunity presented itself.  Terry Carolan had found some unopened boxes of the original pressings of the Just Boys single from 1977, and the True Hearts EP from 1980.  He approached Martin Tremblay, of Mean Bean Records and proposed a package containing both of these rare records.  Martin took it from there, and a gatefold package was designed to hold both records, with accompanying artwork for each band.  While there had only been sixty copies of this very limited edition release, all sold in less than twenty four hours!

But a bigger surprise was in the wings.  In 2023 Terry was contacted by David Wells, of Grapefruit Records, in England (a subsidiary of Cherry Red Records).  David was interested in including a Just Boys song on an upcoming compilation album titled “”Looking For The Magic, American Power Pop In The 70's".  But not a song that may have been expected.  Instead, David wanted to use a song called “All In All”, which had been recorded on a four track tape machine in 1976.  The songs had never been released, so Carolan was intrigued, but also aware that it was basically a demo recording.  David had mentioned some of the other artists that would be on the album, and many were major label artists. In an attempt to maintain the band's legacy, Terry proposed doing a new mix of another unreleased Just Boys song; “Daddy Doesn't Need To Know”, which had been recorded in a more proper studio.  He did the new mix and submitted it in hopes of it being selected, but David Wells still wanted to use “All In All”. Carolan went to work remastering the song, and “All In All” now holds Just Boys place in power-pop, alongside the likes of Raspberries, Cheap Trick, The Cars, Badfinger, Dwight Twilley Band and many more!