Robert Nanna

Robert Nanna (born June 14, 1975) is a Chicago native who was very influential in the 1990s Midwestern indie rock movement. When Nanna was in high school, he was influenced by such bands as Jawbreaker and Fugazi. He played drums and sang lead vocals in a band called Friction up until August of 1993. When Nanna started middle school, he put out an ad in a rock n' roll magazine (asking about other collectors to trade with) and met Roy Ewing (Braid's drummer). When Friction disbanded, Ewing and Nanna began to work on Braid together. They enlisted several people (Kate Ruess, Pete Havernick) before finding Todd Bell as their bassist and Chris Broach as the second guitarist and singer. When Braid broke up in December 1999, Nanna, Bell, and Braid's second drummer Damon Atkinson started Hey Mercedes, whose sound was less mathy and more power-pop. In February of 2005, Hey Mercedes decided to disband. Nanna is currently working on a solo project called The City on Film. Bob Nanna also writes short singles for new Threadless shirts. They can be found just under the name of the shirt on each shirt's page.

In early 2006 Nanna was diagnosed with Extranodal Marginal B-Cell Lymphoma (Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma) and has undergone chemotherapy. He is currently living in Chicago, IL.