Hot Mulligan started in Lansing, Michigan in 2014, built around vocalists Tades Sanville and Chris Freeman, who also handles guitar and drums duties. The band's reference points are pretty specific — Taking Back Sunday, the Wonder Years, Motion City Soundtrack, Tigers Jaw — buoyant pop-punk filtered through genuine emo earnestness, with Sanville's vocal delivery and the band's habit of giving songs deliberately odd titles as its two most identifiable quirks.
Pilot, their 2018 debut, came out on No Sleep Records after a run of earlier EPs; You'll Be Fine followed in 2020 on the same label. Why Would I Watch, their 2023 album for new label Wax Bodega, reached No. 38 on Billboard's Top Independent Albums chart — modest by mainstream standards, solid for a band that's never chased anything outside its own scene.