Recover

Austin's Recover formed around vocalist/guitarist Dan Keyes, guitarist/vocalist Robert Mann, bassist Ross Tweedy, and drummer Santiago Vela III. The four friends began performing together during middle school, relying at first on a set list built from Green Day covers, yet the group did not adopt the name Recover and begin developing its signature emo/post-hardcore sound until roughly 2000. Often compared to a blend of Jimmy Eat World and Refused, the band cut a four-song demo that spring and sold copies at the University of Texas at Austin student union; copies eventually reached Fueled by Ramen after being passed along by the band's friends in the Impossibles. The label connection led to the summer 2001 release of the blistering debut album Rodeo and Picasso.

The quartet's incendiary live performances and emotionally charged material quickly built a devoted underground audience. One year later the group issued the Brian McTernan-produced EP Ceci N'Est Pas Recover on Fiddler Records. Extensive touring alongside Coheed & Cambria, Thursday, Taking Back Sunday, Bad Religion, and the Get Up Kids helped widen their reach, yet the band, though widely respected, never achieved the mainstream breakthrough enjoyed by those acts. In January 2003 Recover contributed previously unreleased material to the four-way Fueled by Ramen split New. Old. Rare., which also featured tracks from Midtown, Blueline Medic, and Silent*Corporation. Late in 2002 the quartet had already signed with Strummer Recordings, an imprint of Universal, and spent the next eight months recording with friend and producer Rory Phillips, formerly of the Impossibles and the Stereo. The resulting rock-oriented album This May Be the Year I Disappear arrived in October 2004. After further national touring, Recover entered an indefinite hiatus; Keyes later resurfaced in 2006 on Island Records fronting the dance-oriented project Young Love.