Berkeley, CA · emo · pop-punk

Mom Jeans

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Fifth-wave emo standard-bearers — twinkly riffs, food-pun titles, real feelings, and crowds that scream every self-deprecating word.

Mom Jeans began in early 2014 at UC Berkeley, formed by drummer Austin Carango and singer and guitarist Eric Butler. The pair first recorded a stripped-down demo before adding electric instrumentation and additional members; guitarist Bart Thompson and bassist Sam Kless later joined the lineup that became one of the more visible names in the emo revival that followed.

Their songs combine bright, interlocking guitar figures with shouted, unpolished vocals and lyrics that trade in self-deprecation, breakups and general disarray, often undercut by jokey song titles. That approach was already present on their early releases, the EP Allergic and the self-released debut Best Buds, both built on fast, twinkly riffing before the band's sound expanded.

Best Buds first appeared on cassette in 2016 before the band signed to Counter Intuitive Records, who reissued it on vinyl that same year. Puppy Love followed in 2018, released alongside a UK edition through Big Scary Monsters. Sweet Tooth arrived in 2022, and in 2023 the band issued Bear Market, a full rerecording of songs pulled from across their earlier catalogue.

The band has toured steadily through the American DIY and small-club circuit, where their shows tend towards mass singalongs. They shared split EPs with Graduating Life and with labelmates Pictures of Vernon and Prince Daddy & the Hyena, and later toured alongside Hobo Johnson, ties that placed them firmly within the wider emo revival scene.

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emopop-punk