Hot Mulligan

American punk outfit Hot Mulligan serve buoyant pop-punk with an emo earnestness inspired by bands like Taking Back Sunday, the Wonder Years, Motion City Soundtrack, and Tigers Jaw. Following a pair of EPs on Michigan indie Save Your Generation Records, the group signed with the No Sleep label and made their full-length debut with 2018's Pilot. A follow-up, You'll Be Fine, appeared two years later, with the Wax Bodega-issued Why Would I Watch arriving in 2023. Additional singles like "Stickers of Brian" followed in 2024.

Hailing from Lansing, Michigan, the band was formed in 2014 by vocalists Tades Sanville and Chris Freeman, who also plays guitar and drums. Early incarnations of Hot Mulligan featured additional bandmembers like guitarist/bassist Brett Annelin -- who played on their debut, 2015's Fenton EP -- and Dolan Bowie, Logan Hayward, and Fin Svoboda, who joined the fray for sophomore EP Honest & Cunning. The group's lineup shifted over the years, with Sanville and Freeman remaining the core of Hot Mulligan. In 2016, they issued a split EP with Everyone Leaves, followed by 2017's breakthrough EP Opportunities (which was later reissued with a bonus acoustic track, "Deluxe Capacitor").

After signing with No Sleep Records, the band -- Freeman, Sanville, and fresh recruits Brandon Blakeley and Garrett Willig -- entered the studio to record their first full-length. Pilot arrived in early 2018 and featured a newly recorded "Deluxe Capacitor" and "All You Wanted by Michelle Branch." Upon release, the LP reached number 13 on the Billboard Heatseekers chart. Hot Mulligan returned in early 2020 with their sophomore set, You'll Be Fine. The group continued to carry the post-emo torch on 2023's Why Would I Watch, their first album for Wax Bodega. It hit number 38 on Billboard's Top Independent Albums chart. After an EP, Hot Mulligan Lofi, the band returned in 2024 with a pair of tracks, "Sticker of Brian" and "End Eric Sparrow and the Life of Him." ~ Neil Z. Yeung