Hot Water Music

Fronted by Chuck Ragan and Chris Wollard, Hot Water Music is a punk-rock band from Gainesville, Florida, where the group formed in October 1994. One year later, Hot Water Music appeared on the compilation Finding the Rhythms and released three different EPs on three different labels. Fuel for the Hate Game, the band's first full-length album, followed in February 1997, catapulting Hot Water Music toward the top of the punk underground. Before the year was through, the band released another LP, Forever and Counting. After briefly splitting up, the group reformed and released No Division in 1999, then signed with Epitaph Records for 2001's A Flight and a Crash. The first of several releases for Epitaph, A Flight and a Crash peaked at number 49 on Billboard's Top Independent Album chart. After releasing 2002's Caution and 2004's The New What Next, the group disbanded once again. This time, the split lasted for several years, with Hot Water Music eventually reforming and releasing its first album in nearly a decade, Exister, in 2012. 2017's Light it Up, 2022's Feel the Void, and 2024's Vows (which charted at number 9 in Germany) all followed, maintaining the band's reputation as punk icons. Meanwhile, vocalist Chuck Ragan also released material and toured heavily as a solo act.