Biography

Formed by four teens in 1990, emo outliers Native Nod released only a handful of songs in their short tenure but earned a cult following for their slanted synthesis of disparate strains of late ’80s/early ’90s underground music. It was a subculture within a subculture, and it saw itself, in part, as an antidote to the tough-guy hardcore that had spread from CBGB’s. Led by vocalist Chris Leo, the band was filled out with brother Danny on drums, bassist Dave Lerner, and guitarist Justin Simon, an unbreakable foursome that released a trio of seminal 7” EPs for the venerable Gern Blandsten label. Thirty years later, Native Nod’s unique genre juxtaposition of art-rock damaged emo, daring/naive songwriting choices, and raw, poetic vocals have given the band an outsized influence in the reams of angst-ridden, introspective, and noisily melodic guitar music.