Hot Mulligan

American punk outfit Hot Mulligan serves buoyant pop-punk with an emo earnestness inspired by bands like Taking Back Sunday, the Wonder Years, Motion City Soundtrack, and Tigers Jaw. 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 line-up 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. ~ Neil Z. Yeung