Hot Water Music

Hot Water Music stormed out of Florida’s fertile punk and hardcore scene in the ’90s, propelled by the ferocious twin-guitar attack of covocalists Chuck Ragan and Chris Wollard and their gruff (but heart-on-sleeve) songs. The band initially coalesced in 1993 in the college town of Gainesville around Ragan, Wollard, bassist Jason Black, and drummer George Rebelo. Hot Water Music debuted a pair of full-lengths in 1997 (Fuel for the Hate Game and Forever and Counting) and released a steady stream of singles and albums before landing on the venerable punk label Epitaph Records for 2001’s throttling A Flight and a Crash and 2002’s equally sharp-edged Caution. Ragan left the group for a spell in the mid-2000s, spurring the others to form a band called The Draft. However, once Ragan returned in 2008, Hot Water Music resumed their packed touring and recording schedule, leading to taut and uncompromising albums such as 2022’s Feel the Void.