Native Nod was an American

post-hardcore Post-hardcore is a punk rock music genre that maintains the aggression and intensity of hardcore punk but emphasizes a greater degree of creative expression. Like the term " post-punk", the term "post-hardcore" has been applied to a broad conste ...

band formed in 1990 and based in the

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

New York metropolitan area The New York metropolitan area, also called the Tri-State area and sometimes referred to as Greater New York, is the List of cities by GDP, largest metropolitan economy in the world, with a List of U.S. metropolitan areas by GDP, gross metropo ...

. During their short stint as a group, they released a handful of songs, spread across a demo, three EPs, and appearances on compilations between 1990 and 1994''. ''Many of these songs would later be collected and released as ''Today Puberty, Tomorrow The World'' in 1995.'

History

Chris and Danny Leo met Justin Simon at a skatepark in

Bloomfield, New Jersey Bloomfield is a township in Essex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, and an inner-ring suburb of Newark. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 53,105, an increase of 5,790 (+12.2%) from the 2010 census cou ...

and became friends through their shared appreciation of music. Through Simon, they met Dave Lerner. Chris at the time sang in Mental Floss, a role he didn't stay in for long. Native Nod played many of their early shows at

ABC No Rio ABC No Rio is a collectively-run nonprofit arts organization on New York City's Lower East Side. Founded in 1980 in a squat at 156 Rivington Street, following the eviction of the 1979–80 Real Estate Show, the center featured an art gallery s ...

, where they helped grow a scene that detested the often violent hardcore attitudes of

CBGB's CBGB was a New York City music club opened in 1973 by Hilly Kristal in the East Village in Manhattan, New York City. The club was previously a biker bar and before that was a dive bar. The letters ''CBGB'' were for ''Country, Bluegrass, Blue ...

. They also tended to appear at house shows around the NY/NJ area. It was through these shows that the band would grow in popularity, even before releasing any music. Throughout their span of time together, the band prided themselves on being different from the tough-guy personality given to hardcore punk at the time and used the term emo as a distinction from those ideas. Through this, the band would embrace humor into their music, like Chris pulling out a

trombone The trombone (, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's lips vibrate inside a mouthpiece, causing the Standing wave, air c ...

mid-song or purposefully wearing "unpunk" outfits. The band never played a show outside of the tri-state area, except for a show at the

Rhode Island School of Design The Rhode Island School of Design (RISD , pronounced "Riz-D") is a private art and design school in Providence, Rhode Island. The school was founded as a coeducational institution in 1877 by Helen Adelia Rowe Metcalf, who sought to increase th ...

. A tour with Iconoclast was booked, which would've seen the band travel to

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, but the band had disagreements on whether to play a specific show, which led to the band pulling from the tour and disbanding. Through fanmail and growing interest in emo from the Midwest, the band played a formal last show at the Center Unitarian Church in Paramus with Current, Angel Hair, and The Yah Mos. After disbanding, vocalist Chris Leo moved on to form

The Van Pelt The Van Pelt is an American indie rock band from New York City that were active from 1993 to 1997, and have reformed several times since. History 1993-1997: Formation, ''Thieves'', ''Sultans'', and disbandment The band originally formed i ...

and later The Lapse, performing as the Vague Angels after The Lapse disbanded. Lerner played drums for Flex Lavender in 1995, then drummed for The Van Pelt for a while, after which he joined Ted Leo and the Pharmacists. He is currently active as a member of Trummors. Drummer Danny Leo went to form Radio to Saturn with Nick Forte from Rorschach, The Sin-Eaters with his (and Chris') brother

Ted Leo Theodore Francis Leo (born September 11, 1970) is an American singer and musician. He is the frontman and lead guitarist of the rock group Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, and in 2013, he and Aimee Mann formed the indie rock duo The Both. Earl ...

, and later The Holy Childhood (stylized as "tHE hOLY cHILDHOOD"). Guitarist Justin Simon played in We Acediasts while living in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

before relocating to

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and establishing Mesh-Key Records. In 2022, Numero Group announced that they would be reissuing the band's discography, starting with the ''Answers'' EP and ending with a new compilation titled ''This Can't Exist'' released on September 1, 2023.

Influences

The band's style is often considered as a part of the first wave of emo and

. The band's influences came from the member's eclectic taste in music, from punk bands like Black Flag and

Sonic Youth Sonic Youth were an American rock band formed in New York City in 1981. Founding members Kim Gordon (bass, vocals, guitar), Thurston Moore (lead guitar, vocals) and Lee Ranaldo (rhythm guitar, vocals) remained together for the entire history of ...

to hip hop like

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and

A Tribe Called Quest A Tribe Called Quest was an American Hip hop music, hip hop group formed in Queens, New York City, in 1985,Q-Tip< ...

. Chris Leo has specifically cited

Kim Gordon Kim Althea Gordon (born April 28, 1953) is an American musician, singer and songwriter best known as the bassist, guitarist, and vocalist of alternative rock band Sonic Youth. Born in Rochester, New York, she was raised in Los Angeles, Califor ...

and

Rakim William Michael Griffin Jr. (born January 28, 1968), better known by his stage name Rakim (), is an American rapper. He is one half of Golden age hip-hop, golden age hip hop duo Eric B. & Rakim, with whom he released four albums: ''Paid in Full ...

as influences of his singing style. The band also cited

Mudhoney Mudhoney is an American rock music, rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, on January 1, 1988, following the demise of Green River (band), Green River. Its members are singer and rhythm guitarist Mark Arm, lead guitarist Steve Turner (guitari ...

as a big influence on them.

Members

*Chris Leo (vocals) *Danny Leo (drums) *Dave Lerner (bass) *Justin Simon (guitar)

Discography

EPs

*''Self-titled demo'' (1991) *''Answers'' (1992, Gern Blandsten) *''Bread'' (1993, Gern Blandsten) *''New Compositions and Arrangements for the Zither'' (1995, Gern Blandsten)

Compilations

* ''Today Puberty, Tomorrow The World'' (1995, Gern Blandsten) *'' This Can't Exist'' (2023, Numero Group)

Appearances on compilations

* "Mr. President" on ''Fear Of Smell'' (1992,

Vermiform Vermes (" vermin/vermes") is an obsolete taxon used by Carl Linnaeus and Jean-Baptiste Lamarck for non-arthropod invertebrate animals. Linnaeus In Linnaeus's ''Systema Naturae'', the Vermes had the rank of class, occupying the 6th (and last) ...

) * "Back To Mimsey" on ''God's Chosen People'' (1993, Old Glory Records) * "Answers" on ''Gern Blandsten - The First Nine Years'' (2001, Gern Blandsten)

References

External links

Gern Blandsten Records
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nod, Native American post-hardcore musical groups American emo musical groups First-wave emo bands Emo musical groups from New Jersey Screamo musical groups Musical groups from Essex County, New Jersey Musical groups established in 1991 Musical groups disestablished in 1995 Gern Blandsten Records artists The Numero Group artists