The Driveways, The Spill Canvas, and Have Mercy

Prior to forming the Spill Canvas as a solo project, lead singer Nick Thomas was the guitarist and back-up vocalist in a number of local punk and metalcore bands including Nodes of Ranvier. Wanting to pursue his own musical interests Thomas departed Nodes of Ranvier and formed his own acoustic emo act in a similar vein to Dashboard Cofessional, and signed with indie label One Eleven Records at age 19. The singer’s debut album “Sunsets and Car Crashes” arrived in 2004 and bar a few guest contributions, was recorded entirely on his own.

For a supporting tour of the album Thomas enlisted the help of a touring band consisting of Dan Ludeman on guitar, Scott McGuire on bass, and Joe Beck on drums. The success of the tour led the Spill Canvas’ subsequent album to be a collaboration between the new members and the result was 2005’s “One Fell Swoop”. In late 2006 the band announced it was changing labels to Sire Records, which marked the departure of McGuire on bass who was replaced by Landon Hell.

The band’s debut release on Sire Records was the EP “Denial Feels So Good” which was supported by a tour on the entire Warped Tour 2007. The tour earned the band a great deal of exposure and a bigger fan base, which led to their well-received third full-length album “No Really, I’m Fine” in 2007. The album peaked at No. 2 on the U.S. Heatseekers chart, featured revered cameo appearances from the likes of Anthony Green of Circa Survive and Andrew McMahon of Jack’s Mannequin, and was again supported by increasingly relentless touring until late 2008.

The EP “Honestly” also appeared in late 2008, followed up by a pair of EPs in 2010 with the titles “Abnormalities”, released in January and “Realities” in April. The band’s fifth studio album “Formalities” arrived later in 2010, followed by the album “Gestalt” in 2012.