Hello.
I must warn you, this message is long. I am transcribing an article from CMJ
New Music Monthly, Issue No. 57, May 1998. This article beats the one in
Guitar World down to the ground and shoves its lifeless body, bruised and
split wide open, under the curtains. And it is highly significant in that it
discusses Sunny Day so thoughtfully, whereas the Guitar World article just
merely mentioned them. And this one also interviews Jeremy Gomez from
Mineral, and he talks about Sunny Day as well. In a blatant act of harsh
criminality, Guitar World devoted but one single sentence to Mineral, which
is ridiculous. I think that after Sunny Day originally broke up, that Mineral
played an immense part in what today�s indie rock has become. And due to the
fact some people find them dreadfully boring and will cite how much of a
�rip-off� of Sunny Day they are, this fact will continue to be ignored. But
it�s a great article, and I would suggest reading it if you have the time and
inclination.
And last but not least, this article is about indie rock for what it is,
not like the Guitar World one, where they only really mention the bands that
were semi mass-marketable, or the ones that made it onto a major label. The
least Guitar World could have done was interview them on their playing styles
and such, which would have made a better story for that magazine, I think.
Alan.
...begin article.
�the scene is now� by Jordan Kurland
Emo-core... If there is one thing more difficult than defining emo-core, it
is finding a band willing to admit its involvement. Although emo-core�s roots
can be traced to the mid-�80s hardcore days of Dischord Records, the style
has been the subject of increasing attention in the last four years. And now
with the news that emo paragon Sunny Day Real Estate has reformed, the style
is sure to receive even wider recognition. But even Sunny Day, the band that
lifted the style to new heights in terms of both creativity and popularity,
winces at the mention of the word. Speaking through its manager, the
notoriously press-shy band commented: �Sunny Day Real Estate won�t deny that
they�re in the emo genre but they feel Rites Of Spring should be credited
with pioneering that.�
Literally, emo-core is a term for emotionally expressive punk rock music.
While the songs are more melodic than traditional punk, they exude the same
sensibility and attitude. Emo, in its purest form, is both anthemic and
guttural. When the movement began, emo was what older, disillusioned hardcore
kids listened to after they had grown out of the notion that they could
conquer the world.
Rites Of Spring, which featured guitarist/vocalist Guy Picciotto and drummer
Brendan Canty, both now of Fugazi, is widely regarded as the first emo-core
band. It was a melodic hardcore group, but what set it apart was the subject
matter of its songs. Rather than ranting about revolutions and anger,
Picciotto sang about lost love and forgotten memories. Take, for instance,
�Theme (If I Started Crying),� from Rite�s Of Spring�s only full-length:
�Sometimes when I see a world inside/Sometimes when I try, I really try/And
hope�s just another rope to hang myself with/To tie me down till something
real comes around.�
Other bands contemporary to Rites Of Spring, such as 7 Seconds and Embrace,
as well as numerous groups that followed in their wake, such as Still Life
and Sense Field, helped to cultivate the sound, but it was with Sunny Day
Real Estate�s debut release in 1994, Diary (Sub Pop), that emo began making
waves outside the hardcore community. The band�s captivating sound fused lead
singer Jeremy Enigk�s charismatic, angst-ridden delivery and soul-stirring
lyrics with the powerful guitar playing of Daniel Hoerner and the driving
rhythms of bassist Nate Mendel (now of Foo Fighters) and drummer William
Goldsmith. Sunny Day quickly became one of the most important college rock
bands of the �90s, but, proving the clich� that the candle that burns twice
as bright burns out twice as fast, the group disbanded in March of 1995.
764-HERO vocalist/guitarist John Atkins, who went to high school with
Goldsmith, had a good vantage point from which to judge the impact of Sunny
Day Real Estate�s music on the emo scene. �I remember going on our first tour
and we started noticing that the local opener sounded like Sunny Day almost
every night. You can definitely see that Sunny Day had that Velvet
Underground appeal where it�s like no one heard them, but everyone who did
started a band. people heard Sunny Day and were like, �Wow, you can do that!��
According to Jeremy Gomez, the bass player for Mineral, Sunny Day�s brief
career did not limit the impact of their music. �Sunny Day came out of
nowhere and changed a lot of people�s lives,� he says. Gomez claims, however,
that it was not Sunny Day Real Estate that led his band, which has always
been dogged by the emo label, towards the genre. �We kind of fell on the
scene by accident,� he recalls via telephone from his home in Austin, Texas.
�We got together and started writing songs and then we played a show in
Houston with Christie Front Drive. We had never heard of them and they had
never heard of us, but it turned out to be a good bill. We were blown away.
It was the first time that we realized that there were other bands playing a
similar music style.�
Soon after, Mineral recorded its first 7� for Christie Front Drive�s Audio
Concept label and, in the process, dug itself deeper into the scene. By the
time the group released The Power Of failing on Crank! in 1996, it was
already one of the most celebrated post-Sunny Day emo-core outfits. Following
the album�s release, Mineral inked a deal with Interscope Records, but a
desire to branch out led to last year�s premature break up. �I just
personally felt that O had accomplished everything that I wanted to in
Mineral,� explains Gomez. �I though the direction that we would have gone
from there would have either been stagnant or we would have gone into a
direction I wasn�t really into.� Despite his resistance to accepting the
emo-core tag, Gomez acknowledges that he benefited from being part of the
movement. �There are a lot of people that like to bash the whole scene, but
if it wasn�t for that scene, we wouldn�t have been as popular as we were.�
Mineral touring mate the Promise Ring may be the first group to step away
from the scene without losing credibility. Since all four members of the
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, band had been hardcore kids, and singer Davey Von
Bohlen had played in the emo band Cap�n Jazz (which recently released a
post-humous collection of all of its recorded material,
Analphabetapolothology, on Jade Tree), the Promise Ring was quickly branded
as emo. The release of the group�s first LP on Jade Tree in 1996, 30 Degrees
Everywhere, confirmed it. Although these days the band avoids the phrase like
the plague, being dubbed emo-core wasn�t so disheartening in the beginning.
�It�s weird. Four years ago it had a completely different meaning,� says
bassist Jason Gnewikow from his home in Chicago, where he is recuperating
from the band�s recent van accident. �It�s kind of turned into this thing
that people shy away from and I can understand why. I think it has gotten so
wrong. Punk and hardcore people are very protective of their own and it has
kind of been taken away by the outside world like the music industry.�
The Promise Ring�s latest offering, Nothing Feels Good (Jade Tree), is a
drastic departure from its previous efforts. A well-crafted power-pop album,
it is not so much a reaction against emo as it is a reflection of a shift in
the band�s musical interests. �When we first started the band it was kind of
like the boom of Sunny Day Real Estate,� Gnewikow hastens to point out. �I
think what influences us to write songs has a lot to do with what we are
listening to, and at that time that was the stuff we were listening to. As an
early starting band you are kind of struggling to find how you fit into your
own calling, your own sound. After a while you start paying more attention to
your songwriting.�
Naturally, there are a number of acts around today that did not grow up in
and around the emo scene but have learned from and drawn heavily on it. Far,
a hard rock quartet from Sacramento, California, credits the style as a sort
of guiding light. �For me, it was less and influence than a validation
thing,� says lead singer Jonah Matranga. �We were sort of moving along in
this odd direction, and to hear bands like Quicksand and Sunny Day was like
meeting someone else who likes the same weird band you do.� Unlike many of
his scene-mates, Matranga has no problem owning up to his band�s emo-ness. �I
love the term, actually,� Matranga confesses. �I�m always down for emotion
and people that are not afraid to show it.�
Even if Sunny Day�s next album--due out this fall on Sub Pop--does not have
the expected impact, it is doubtful that the emo genre will disintegrate
anytime soon. There are plenty of bands stoking the fire, including Karate,
Jejune, Rainer Maria, Pave The Rocket, Brandston, Appleseed Cast, Camber and
Cursive. There are also just as many acts out there building on or borrowing
from it, such as 764-HERO, Trackstar, the Get-Up Kids, Unwound, Knapsack,
Jimmy Eat World, Triple Fast Action and, in less obvious ways, Modest Mouse.
According to John Szuch, the founder of Deep Elm Records, the music remains
powerful, even as it broadens its parameters. His label documented the
movement last year with a compilation titled What�s Mine Is Yours: The Emo
Diaries, Chapter One. (Due to the positive response, Szuch is gearing up for
a second, �more somber� collection, A Million Miles Away: The Emo Diaries,
Chapter Two.)
�Today, emo seems to be growing into more of a scene of all-ages,
D.I.Y.-minded kids that appreciate music that comes from the soul, more than
any particular style,� explains Szuch. �Bands involved in the scene all have
their own take on it, some more hardcore, some more dynamic, some more pop,
some more math-rock and intellectual, some more screaming and some more
rock-based. Whatever works to give me that feeling inside is OK by my
standards.�
...end article.
