The Front Bottoms

New Jersey indie rock pair the Front Bottoms first surfaced near the end of the 2000s, delivering an unpredictable fusion of pop, rock, and punk elements alongside sharp lyrics that present a brisk, off-kilter view of daily life. Their initial recordings, the self-titled 2011 album and 2013’s Talon of the Hawk, centered on spare, pointed melodies, sparse guitar textures, and energetic percussion. After linking with Fueled by Ramen, the duo’s studio approach shifted toward a denser sonic palette while their offbeat lyrical focus remained intact. Larger-scale success arrived with 2017’s Going Grey and 2020’s In Sickness & In Flames, enabling continued smaller-scale releases beloved by fans such as the 2022 Theresa EP. Their eighth studio album, You Are Who You Hang Out With, appeared the next year.

Vocalist and guitarist Brian Sella and drummer Mathew Uychich form the Front Bottoms. The two, both from Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey, have known each other since age ten and began composing songs together during Sella’s sixth-grade year. Following a period of private songwriting, they first performed publicly at a high school talent show, offering an original track and a Modest Mouse cover. Sella’s mother supported the effort by securing time at a nearby studio, where they captured twelve songs in three hours. With sufficient original material for a full set, the Front Bottoms secured an all-ages booking at a Pompton Lakes, New Jersey club alongside several local acts; there they encountered Casey Lee Morgan, who ran sound and operated a home recording studio.

Morgan began collaborating with the pair in the studio, resulting in the self-released 2008 album I Hate My Friends; the duo then toured up and down the East Coast, accepting any available makeshift venue. A second independent full-length, My Grandmother vs. Pneumonia, followed in 2009, and an EP surfaced in 2010. Early on, Brian Uychich—Mathew’s brother—joined on keyboards and vocals, though he exited in 2011 to resume his studies. That year the band signed with the established New Jersey indie Bar/None Records, and their label debut, the plainly titled The Front Bottoms, arrived in September. They continued with 2013’s Talon of the Hawk, then issued the six-song Rose EP in 2014, gathering previously unreleased fan favorites and inaugurating a series of EPs named after the members’ grandmothers. April 2015 brought the split EP Liberty and Personality with rapper GDP, followed in September by their third studio album, Back on Top, on Fueled by Ramen.

Over the next two years the Front Bottoms expanded their reach, appearing at Coachella and Austin City Limits while touring the U.K. with blink-182 and Frank Turner. October 2017 saw the release of Going Grey, their second Fueled by Ramen album. Ann, the second Grandmothers EP, arrived the following year. March 2019 brought a split single with singer-songwriter Kevin Devine, to which the band contributed a cover of “Just Stay.” Still attuned to contemporary currents, their 2020 LP In Sickness & In Flames found the group reflecting on persistent adolescent emotions amid the period’s uncertainties. They returned in 2022 with Theresa, the third Grandmothers EP and another collection of fan favorites. Fronted by the gritty power-pop track “Outlook,” You Are Who You Hang Out With, the band’s eighth full-length, reached listeners in 2023.