Small Brown Bike

Named after a childhood pastime spent tinkering with bicycles, Small Brown Bike came out of Marshall, Michigan, and built its identity around a distinctive device: two vocalists sharing the lines over melodies set inside a post-hardcore frame. Listeners often hear echoes of Avail, Hot Water Music and Dillinger Four, though the double vocals give the group a sound that is recognisably its own.

The band started in 1996 and spent 1999 and 2000 on the road, touring three times with Dead Season and once with Thoughts of Ionesco. Their last show took place in 2004 at The Fireside Bowl in Chicago, by which point they had already agreed to split. A run of reunion shows in September 2007, held in aid of a close friend fighting leukaemia, led to the release of their first album, Voices, in January 2008. In October 2009 they announced a return to songwriting. Former members have since gone on to form LaSalle, the Great Sea Serpents and Able Baker Fox. Guitarist Travis Dopp died of cancer on 13 December 2023.