Bad Reception

Bad Reception has never made music quietly.

Born in Glouster, Ohio, the pop-punk five-piece built its reputation on emotionally charged songwriting, massive guitars, relentless rhythm, and Riley Carter’s unmistakable voice—a vocal presence capable of moving from controlled vulnerability to full-throated authority without losing the feeling underneath. What started in an upstairs Nelsonville rehearsal room became a fiercely collaborative sound shaped by Carter, Evan Parker, Jace Holloway, Nico Alvarez, and founding guitarist Mason Keene.

After Keene’s death in 2012, Bad Reception refused to simply replace the past. Guitarist Cole Mercer joined the following year, and the rebuilt lineup found its own identity through the Dead Air EP—a defining release that proved Bad Reception could move forward without becoming a recreation of what it had been. The years that followed brought bigger crowds, wider recognition, and eventually a major-label deal.

Then came You Heard Me the First Time. Recorded at Studio B in Hollywood, the album captured Bad Reception at its biggest, boldest, and most immediate—towering guitars, explosive rhythms, undeniable hooks, and Carter’s voice cutting straight through the center of it all. The record broke nationally, carrying the band from its Ohio roots to audiences across the country and transforming years of hard-earned momentum into a genuine breakthrough. It was Bad Reception with everything turned up: sharper, louder, more ambitious, and impossible to ignore.

Today, Carter, Mercer, Parker, Holloway, and Alvarez are writing another version of Bad Reception—on their own terms, at their own pace, and without any obligation to become what they were.