Blacktop Mourning coalesced in Chicago around songwriter and guitarist Max Steger, the prodigy who launched his career in neighborhood blues clubs at age eleven, alongside bassist Joe Levand, drummer Jon Meredith, and vocalist Marty James Abezetian. The punk-pop quartet came together in 2004. Across the following two years they sharpened their melodic, hook-driven rock approach by gigging throughout the city and developing songs for their first full-length. Rhythm guitarist Shawn Nystrand entered the fold during those sessions, bolstering the group’s already vigorous stage dynamic.
Their self-titled debut, recorded under Doug McBride—whose résumé lists Fall Out Boy, Veruca Salt, and Rachael Yamagata—was issued independently in early 2006. By then Joe Levand had moved to lead vocals after Abezetian’s exit; the band subsequently recruited bassist-keyboardist Sammy Kordys so Levand could concentrate solely on singing during concerts.
“Another Day,” “As Time Crawls By,” and “Hardly Recognize” surfaced in an episode of MTV’s Meet the Barkers, the reality series chronicling the household of blink-182’s Travis Barker and spouse Shanna Moakler. Before the year ended, the group’s material had been placed in more than a dozen additional MTV programs. The lineup at that juncture comprised Steger, Levand, and Nystrand, plus drummer Greg Gerard and touring bassist Nate Wethy.
February 2007 brought news that Blacktop Mourning was among the first acts signed to Tyrannosaurus Records (also called T Recs), the fledgling label started by Counting Crows frontman Adam Duritz. A spring SXSW slot followed, and the band’s second album, No Regret—the label’s inaugural release—arrived in May 2007.
