They also tried to sign with Interscope Records but they wouldn't publish the songs uncensored. They first signed a record contract with MySpace Records in 2005 but they left the label after the label tried to censor their first album. The other two years were spent looking for a company that wouldn't try to censor the album. The band only took one year working on their debut album, Swan Songs.

Swan Songs, Desperate Measures, and Record Deal (2007–2009) In interviews, they only said that Jeff was too old for the band and he wouldn't have fit in. In an interview with Shave magazine, Decker explained that when forming the band 'Whoever was in the room at the time and played an instrument was in the band.' Jeff Phillips later left the band after a conflict with Erlichman.

They all liked the name so they went for it. They wrote Hollywood (the song's title) and Undead (the band's name) on a CD and gave it to Decker's neighbor who thought the group was called Hollywood Undead. The members referred as 'Undead' to the kids in LA who were always on their way partying, looking like living dead. The Kids was originally titled Hollywood and the band's name was going to be Undead. The group soon broadened with Matthew Busek, George Ragan, Jordon Terrell and Dylan Alvarez. The so many positive reviews that they received lead them to form a group. It was originally Jeff's idea to create a heavy metal Beastie Boys type band when they were at Jorel's apartment. The band originated in 2005 from a song titled The Kids that Jorel Decker, Jeff Phillips, and Aron Erlichman posted on the band's MySpace profile.

5 Notes from the Underground (2013-2015).

2 Swan Songs, Desperate Measures, and Record Deal (2007–2009).

Hollywood undead everywhere i go