Blast From The Past: Spitalfield

So this is what it's like when four members of four different hardcore bands form a band and a sound all their own. Deep in the heart of Chicago, Illinois, a small movement occurred in 1998 that allowed those four hardcore members to join each other under one banner. Guitarist/vocalist Mark Rose and drummer J.D. Romero started to write alt-indie hits that conveyed more emotional issues than what they had been writing in the hardcore scene. However, they took that alt-indie mood and added pop emphasis with the intimacy of hardcore. Rose was quoted in an early interview that the band drew influences from Texas In The Reason and Braid. The two soon recruited Dan Lowder as another guitarist and a year later T.J. Minich joined the group on bass and the circle was completed. Before a jam session together, Rose approached the band with a band name. The name Spitalfields was the village that Jack The Ripper was raised in. So they decided to drop the last 's' and become Spitalfield.

It took little time to gain a devote following in their hometown, which can be contributed to their energetic and visceral live shows. In their first year together, the band opened up for bands like Jurassic 5, Thursday, Rise Against, Brand New, The Movielife, and Hey Mercedes just to name a few. Their devote following started to spread the word and the band gained a massive amount of new fans. After recording a few demos in 2000, the band finally released The Cloak and Dagger Club EP in 2002. The sound quality wasn't ideal, but the record summed up all that energy and the great songwriting potential that the band showcased. The EP was enough to garner attention of larger labels than the label that released it. In January 2003, the band signed to Victory Records and almost immediately after that went into the studio to record what turned out to be their debut full-length, Remember Right Now. Producer Sean O'Keefe headed the album after working with the likes of Motion City Soundtrack and Fall Out Boy and helped capture the sound that Spitalfield had been striving for.

The band toured on their debut album for nearly two years straight, spreading their heartfelt songs across the land and developing a devote following. After supporting acts like The Early November and Sugarcult, Victory wanted a new album. So almost three years after their debut, Spitalfield released Stop Doing Bad Things that held more melodic anthems and brought bands like Foo Fighters and Jimmy Eat World to mind. Minich decided to leave the band shortly after releasing that record, and the guys soon found a replacement in bassist T.J. Milici. That summer Spitalfield hit the Warped Tour, but were forced to drop off near its end when Lowder suddenly announced he'd be leaving the band. The group wasted little time in finding a replacement for Lowder and eventually enlisted Jeff Meilander as a touring guitarist. The three remaining troop went on to stay a three-piece and released Better Than Knowing Where You Are in 2006. The group toured for not quite a year on that record until they decided to go their separate ways.

What everyone who performed in Spitalfield achieved while the band was a cohesive unit is unparalleled by their peers. They didn't achieve stardom, they didn't make a dozen records, and they didn't make a lot of money. What they did do however, was leave behind one of the most loyal fan bases the underground world has ever seen, some fantastic memories of their energetic live shows, and three albums that are as enjoyable to listen to now as they ever were. The group's hardcore background is very much present on every record and combines that with melodic harmonies as well as alt-indie stylings. Each and every album is filled to the brim with heartfelt lyrics, anthemic choruses, and are sonically energetic.

With the rise of Mark Rose's solo work, there has been some mumblings of a reunion. But Rose's latest music has become a mixture of pop and blues. However, on certain occasions you will hear him play Spitalfield songs during his live sets. The loyal following has never stopped hoping and pushing for a reunion, but each member has their own projects and the prospect of a reunion seems out of contention at the moment. Just listening to their albums takes you down memory lane to the days of hoping that they would come to a town near you so that you could witness their live shows. Unlike other bands, Spitalfield never relied on anything else at their shows other than the instruments they possessed and the hearts in the band members that made them play with the intensity that they did. If you got the chance to see this band live, then you saw one of the treasures that very few in the scene truly appreciated.

Recommended Listens:
"I Love The Way She Said L.A."
"The Only Thing That Matters"
"Those Days You Felt Alive"
"Restraining Order Blues"
"Five Days And Counting"

Recommended If You Like:
Taking Back Sunday
Armor For Sleep
The Promise Ring
Senses Fail
Thursday

Blast From The Past: Sunny Day Real Estate

Seattle, Washington is placed in the rock & roll history books in the early 1990's for the grunge explosion thanks to bands like Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Soundgarden. The grunge band movement swept the entire nation and everyone was eating it up. So with the swoon of grunge bands, and deservedly so, who would pay attention to a small time alternative emo group? Somebody did, and whoever that is needs an emphatic "thank you".

Foo Fighters - Nirvana = Sunny Day Real Estate

Originally formed in 1992 under the name Empty Set, Dan Hoerner (guitar, vocals), Nate Mendel (bass), and William Goldsmith (drums) started to play at a few small clubs in the Seattle scene and released a demo tape. After the release of their first demo tape, they were forced to change their name to Chewbacca Kaboom, since their was already an Empty Set. After being under that moniker, bassist Nate Mendel toured with another band and allowed the other founding members to shake up the line-up. The band introduced Jeremy Enigk as their singer, and he soon became the permanent frontman of the untitled band. Mendel soon returned and the band had their final line-up and their final name, Sunny Day Real Estate.

The band then released two 7" records, but neither of them garnered much attention. However, it did enough to get a small record deal with Sub Pop Records. What came out of this record deal was one of the greatest debut albums that the world has ever seen. The album Diary, was welcomed with overwhelmingly warm reviews. Sunny Day toured on the record for nearly a year straight and became the buzz of the emo world. The band became known for their increasing exclusiveness from the public. During the tour of Diary, Sunny Day only allowed one publicly released photograph and granted just one interview, even so that interview was conducted with fellow emo band Texas Is The Reason's frontman, Norm Arenas. That exclusiveness is only matched by the fact that throughout their early days, the band refused to play shows in California, still for unknown reasons.

Shortly after the tour was over, rumors swirled only to be confirmed that the band had seen the end of its days. During the recording sessions for the follow-up to their successful debut record, the band was clearly suffering from internal conflicts. Egnik suddenly converted to Christianity and that was long since credited to their main reason why they disbanded, but Sunny Day has since downplayed such a reason. The band got together and several months after their initial disband, Sub Pop released the group's second album that simply bared the name: Sunny Day Real Estate, in November of 1995. It has since been referred to as "the pink album" because there was no linear notes or cover art. When the label asked the band about art, Sunny Day responded with "just make it pink". Sub Pop has referred to the record as LP2 and released it with several recordings from the new session as well as a song that didn't make the cut on Diary.

After that record was released the band decided to call it quits for good. When asked shortly after the break up, as to why they decided to go their separate ways, Egnik summarized it by saying ""We broke up and we just felt like we were done. We put no energy into the artwork or into anything". That quote was confirmed by the rest of the band as the proper reasoning behind the disbanding. Egnik went on to his solo project that released a record in 1996. Hoerner decided to move onto a farm in rural Washington and denied any interviews about the band for many years. Mendel and Goldsmith joined Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl in his new band, Foo Fighters. During recording sessions for Foo Fighters' second album, Goldsmith and Grohl got into a great altercation which resulted in Goldsmith's departure from the band.

In 1997 the band got back together for a quick reunion, without Mendel however, because he didn't want to leave Foo Fighters for what he thought could be a "tenuous reunion". The reunion gave birth to the band's third album, How It Feels To Be Something On as well as a few tours. Fans were shocked by the new mature sound by the band and spoke in a slight outrage. The band then got together for another album that became known as The Rising Tide, released in 2000, which has since became recognized as the band's ultimate downfall. The band successfully toured the country on that album, but on the eve of leaving for Europe their new record label (Time Bomb Recordings) pulled their funding. That was good enough reason for the band to decide to call it quits again. In 2009 Sunny Day reunited again, but talks of a full time reunion have not been serious.

Sunny Day Real Estate's sound has become one of the great mysteries of the world. Mysterious in the ways of its simplicity. The sound grew from very humble beginnings by simple garage band construction of compressed drums, soft guitars, forefront vocals, and a driving bass line. Even at such a young point in their careers, all of the band members had a sense of dramatics and theatrics in their careers. That sound evolved into more produced efforts, but never as emotionally charged as their debut record. The guitars became more polished, the drums became fuller, the vocals had a cleaner tone to them, but Sunny Day could never replicate the fire they had in their first album, which should be owned by everyone.

Recommended Listens:
"Seven"
"Song About An Angel"
"47"
"Killed By An Angel"
"Every Shining Time You Arrive"

Recommended If You Like:
Bright Eyes
Modest Mouse
The Get-Up Kids
Saves The Day
The Promise Ring

Blast From The Past: The Junior Varsity

In the quiet winter times in Springfield, Illinois people would go out to the lakes and ice fish as much as they would go to the local music venue to see a show. The only real noteworthy exports that Springfield had were a few hall of fame football players and Abraham Lincoln. Being the capital of Illinois, there are a lot of cushy government jobs that makes the economy of Springfield a booming one. The scene is set by a surrounding countryside landscape and a small Andy Wildrick, who took his old band, Winner Takes All, and talked to a few friends. All of the original songs wrote by Winner Takes All were eventually re-recorded by the band that would rise from the ashes.

Wildrick would enlist bassist and vocalist Asa Dawson, Sergio Coronado on rhythm guitar, Chris Birch on drums, and Nick Dodson on keyboards for the project that would become known as The Junior Varsity. All of the band members were in college when they released their very first record, The Great Compromise, which was warmly greeted by every critic that came across it. The band toured tirelessly on their debut record, opening for such bands like The Starting Line, Motion City Soundtrack, and Bayside. After the band got off the road they were handed a record deal by Chicago-based label, Victory Records. Right after they signed their contract, they went to work on their follow-up, which would become known as Wide Eyed.

Easily their most mainstream album, Wide Eyed was greeted by a wider fan-base and equally exciting following of critics. The band became subject to a lot of buzz and people believed it was only a matter of time until the band broke it big. With the wider fan base, Victory Records decided to re-release the band's debut album with a DVD and demos of some b-sides. The new fans got introduced to some of the older stuff that original fans in Chicago have been screaming for years. The buzz didn't get to the men of The Junior Varsity, they kept their head to the grindstone and were constantly on the road, doing what it took to get their name out there. By doing so, the band found themselves on the same tours as Good Charolette, Paramore, and Panic! At The Disco.

The band started to get a little road weary and decided to take a few months off. As they were doing that, every one of them started writing songs and different parts for a new record. So as soon as the band finally got back together they already had a great start for their third album, which would become known as Cinematographic. The hard work that everyone put into the record paid off, and the album is still one of the best that NOBODY knows about. But everything that the band put into the album started to implode upon itself. Rumors were confirmed, and bassist Asa Dawson left the band, which caused The Junior Varsity to drop off their tour with Permanent Me. After that tour, the band played one show at the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. Band relationships started to weather and it was announced that they went on "indefinite hiatus".

Since then, Andy Wildrick joined The Dear Hunter, which is an indie band based in Boston. The rest of the members have gone on to finish school. Talks of shows with even more buzz bands like The Graduate surfaced, but the band never actually committed with their finest line-up. That's where we stand today. Asa Dawson has said that the band have been having talks about getting together for a small tour, but nothing has ever happened in relation to those talks. The Junior Varsity doesn't leave a great legacy of bands and a tall order for bands that they influenced to go up against, all they were was a band that played music that every member loved to play. Just looking at the songs today, a good three years after first hearing of the band, I can tell you that the songs still hit a special spot in my heart.

Sonically, The Junior Varsity started things on The Great Compromise with a very rough and gritty garage band sound. The initial sound was touched up to be more of an alternative-punk sound, but the band still had that element of aggression and unpolished life to it. The band has said that they loved playing songs off of that album because they knew that the crowd would respond well to them and give them a fun show. You can tell when listening to the songs off that record that they just wanted to play music that they loved to play. The songs on their Victory debut, Wide Eyed, had a little more polished sound to them. The band showed that they started to stray away from straight emo-punk to an alternative sound. Sure they had a distinct punk styling, but they implemented different movements and different sounds into their songs. They led a front of emo-ternative sounding bands with that album, which they would improve upon in their final album, Cinematographic.

Guitar riffs, distortion, tones, bass lines, and vocal melodies were the key components that made Cinematographic a great listen. The lyrics on this record were also much improved from the bands previous efforts, which I believe is in reflection of the band growing up both together and individually. It's really difficult to talk about this band in terms of just songs and tones, especially if you have ever listened to them at all. If you can just reach out and have a common ground with the melodies and vocals, then the hook will be deep into you to, and you too will wish that The Junior Varsity would make their return to the world of music.

Recommended Listens:
"Falling Far Behind"
"Get Comfortable"
"The SKY"
"The Greatest"
"Memory Made Easy"

Recommended If You Like:
Reggie And Full Effect
The Get-Up Kids
Motion City Soundtrack
The Early November
Radiohead

Blast From The Past: Apocalypse Hoboken

In a world where people remember the Chicago punk scene for mainstream Rise Against albums and the rise/fall of Fall Out Boy, there is still hope. Granted they stopped becoming a full-time band in 2006, but it all started when four high school kids decided to play music together. It was when bassist Rich Cassady and vocalist Ted Locascio, both from Glenbard North, met up with guitarist Scott Hoffman and drummer Andy Peterson, both of them from Glenbard West, that the seed was planted. After playing only four shows together, the group disbanded. Two years after going separate ways, the band re-convened.

The band then played together and recorded a cassette that is now known as Yeah, But. The group needed a real name to go by, instead of just their names as they did in their earlier shows. So the band decided to call themselves Apocalypse Hoboken and the punk stars aligned. By making the cassette, the band got enough popularity to open for popular punk bands like NOFX, The Offspring, and going on a complete tour with Screeching Weasel. Apocalypse Hoboken toured constantly while releasing numerous 7" and cassettes, not releasing their first album until 1994. The band never really gained a wide fan base, but for people who love punk rock, this band has never been far from the heart. They have played a few reunion shows in the past two years, but only within the greater Chicago area.

Apocalypse Hoboken was the name in Chicago punk in the early-to-mid 90's. Ask any of the great bands that toured with them and they will tell you that Apocalypse Hoboken brought one of the most passionate, energy-fueled, aggressive, and fun shows that the punk scene has seen. Their sound was a fusion of their influences. Incorporating all of the elements of The Vandals, The Saints, Hüsker Dü, and Dead Kennedys with their own brand of playful and sarcastic humor, Apocalypse Hoboken was indeed something to treasure. Thanks to their albums Date Rape / Jerk Lessons, Inverse Reverse Perverse, House Of The Rising Son Of A Bitch, and Microstars; the band's legacy has been well preserved to all who love classic punk. This is the quintessential scene punk band. Everyone in the Chicago scene worshiped this band and by just listening to their live performances, interviews, and covers, you will know the fun that this band had. Thank you, punk rock gods, for giving us Apocalypse Hoboken.



Recommended Listens:
"Sweet Travesties"
"Pop Sensibilities"
"Congested"
"Submissive Wetter"
"Darling Nikki"

Recommended If You Like:
NOFX
New Found Glory
Pennywise
Less Than Jake
Psychostick