Have Mercy

An indie band from Baltimore, Maryland, Have Mercy merges warm, melancholic alt-rock with dense emo and post-hardcore textures. Their first full-length, The Earth Pushed Back, appeared in 2013, after which the group joined Hopeless Records and issued three additional albums, among them the introspective The Love Life in 2019. Multiple roster adjustments preceded an early-2020 breakup, yet the outfit resurfaced two years afterward; a self-titled EP in 2022 preceded the full-length return Numb in 2023.

Having exited the metal circles where they first performed, singer-guitarist Brian Swindle, guitarist Andrew Johnson, bassist Nick Woolford, and drummer Aaron Alt launched Have Mercy in 2009. Their opening EP, My Oldest Friend, surfaced in early 2012. Extensive D.I.Y. touring quickly built a nationwide audience, prompting a deal with Boston’s Topshelf Records that yielded the well-reviewed The Earth Pushed Back in 2013. The following year brought a move to the established indie label Hopeless Records, which released Place of Our Own; by then Todd Wallace had replaced Alt on drums, initiating a series of personnel shifts. Producers Paul Leavitt (All Time Low) and Brian McTernan (Thrice) guided the sessions for Make the Best of It, issued in early 2017. Ahead of 2019’s The Love Life, Nate Gleason assumed Johnson’s guitar role, and the album traced Swindle’s turbulent experiences across the prior three years. At year’s end the band opted to dissolve, scheduling a farewell tour for early 2020 that the pandemic abruptly halted, sending the members in separate directions.

Swindle later reassembled the central lineup of Johnson, Woolford, and Wallace to record a self-titled EP released in 2022. Tracks such as “1979” and “Alive” set the stage for the 2023 comeback album Numb.