Milwaukee, WI · emo · indie rock

Hey Mercedes

1 upcoming festival

Born from the ashes of Braid, Bob Nanna's hookier follow-up — sharp, wordy emo with real pop instincts. A reunion for the turn-of-the-millennium emo faithful.

Hey Mercedes formed in 2000 after the breakup of the Champaign, Illinois band Braid, with singer and guitarist Bob Nanna, bassist Todd Bell and drummer Damon Atkinson carrying over from that group. The band was based around Chicago and Milwaukee and released records through Vagrant, becoming one of the more widely heard names in the era's emo scene.

Compared with Braid's angular, start-stop approach, Hey Mercedes leaned harder on melody: bright guitar lines, dense wordplay and choruses built for singing along, delivered with Nanna's slightly frayed voice up front. The group went quiet in the mid-2000s and has since reconvened for occasional shows.

emoindie rock