Mineral

Many great bands have died without finding any kind of mainstream success. There are countless reasons why these bands do not blow up: their sound is too abstract for radio play, they split for personal reasons before they can be discovered, they do not have the means to tour enough to get their name out, etc. However, it is extremely rare for a band to actively reject their one shot at widespread popularity. Such was the case for Mineral, the Austin, TX emo band that found what they were looking for and decided to throw it away once they got it.

Mineral was formed in 1994 by singer/guitarist Chris Simpson. They began as a makeshift version of Sunny Day Real Estate, which was still a bit of a niche sound at the time. Though initially somewhat derivative, they drew from some of the rawer elements of SDRE. The loud/soft dynamic with piercing guitars and driving bass were familiar, but Simpson's voice was much more plaintive than anything you will hear to this day. On many songs, it literally sounds like he is crying while he is singing. The band consolidated all of these things into their first single, "Parking Lot," which finds Simpson gladly accepting his own death: "I wouldn't mind if you took me in my sleep tonight/ I wouldn't even put up a fight." Sure, the lyrics seem a bit melodramatic on paper, but with the full band behind them, the song is an emotional powerhouse.

The "Parking Lot" single got the attention of Crank! Records, who signed Mineral, and sent them into the studio to record their first LP, The Power of Failing, in 1996. This record continued with the sound of "Parking Lot," which they included as the album's closer. However, many of the songs were significantly longer, saturated with extended instrumental sections. The production was very rough, but this only added to the intensity, exaggerating the difference between the pretty, soft parts and the crushing, heavy parts. The band toured relentlessly following the release of this album. During this time, they also released a split 7" with Midwestern emo giants Jimmy Eat World and Sense Field, which increased their popularity exponentially.

By 1998, the band had been touring straight since the release of The Power of Failing. They recieved a great deal of critical praise and built up a buzz that brought every major label knocking at their door. They eventually signed a deal with Interscope Records, but were bound to Crank! for one more record. That summer, they went into the studio with producer Mark Trombino (Jimmy Eat World, Blink-182) to record their sophomore LP, EndSerenading. This album featured much crisper, polished production, which lent itself well to Mineral's beatiful arpeggios and sparse drums. Despite the fact that they were finally about to make it to the big leagues, the band decided to break up before they ever got to work with Interscope. In fact, they revealed that the recording process for EndSerenading was extremely difficult, and they almost did not even complete the album.

After the breakup, drummer Gabriel Wiley formed another influential emo group, Pop Unknown, and later released an EP with the proto-screamo group, Kissing Chaos. He also had a brief stint in a band called Imbroco with guitarist Scott David McCarver. Bassist Jeremy Gomez joined Chris Simpson in his new band, The Gloria Record, which was a more indie-leaning version of Mineral. Since they have also disbanded, Simpson is currently working on an indie-folk solo project called Zookeeper. These bands, though all very good in their own ways, will most likely never generate the kind of mainstream hype that Mineral had, and sadly threw away.

Check out "Parking Lot" here:

At the Drive-In

Although it is certainly well-worn territory, I feel that it is necessary to discuss the life and death of At the Drive-In, whose breakup was arguably the most unexpected and controversial of the past decade. Despite having spent 8 years tirelessly touring and recording, they enjoyed less than 6 months of mainstream success. The band was founded by guitarist Jim Ward and singer Cedric Bixler-Zavala in 1993. Between 1993 and 1997, they gained and lost many members, and released their first LP, Acrobatic Tenement, and 2 EP's: Hell Paso and Alfaro Vive, Carajo! They built up a modest following based on these recordings, but their music did not make it very far outside of Texas. It was not until 1998 that they solidified their final lineup, with guitarist Omar Rodriguez-Lopez, bassist Paul Hinojos and drummer Tony Hajjar. Incidentally, this was also the year that they released their masterpiece, In/Casino/Out.

ATDI had always been known for the intensity of their live performances, which is something that they had trouble capturing on their albums. To remedy this, they recorded In/Casino/Out as a live studio album. The result is a positively exhilarating record, recalling the early days of post-hardcore, i.e. Rites of Spring, Embrace. The guitars alternatingly shred and squeal over a frantic, unpredictable rhythm section. All the while, Bixler haphazardly soars in and out of tune, maniacally spouting his cryptic lyrics: "Is this just another life preserver or a bivouac tenure?/ The tropic of cancer answered 'Drink the quicksand'." The album failed to make any mainstream headway for the band, but it led to a deal with Grand Royal Records, the Beastie Boys' label.

After releasing the Vaya EP and a series of splits with Sunshine, Burning Airlines and the Murder City Devils, ATDI went into the studio with Ross Robinson (Glassjaw, Deftones), to record Relationship of Command. This album was significantly more polished, and much heavier than any of their previous work. The lead single, "One Armed Scissor," received a huge amount of radio play. MTV even began heralding them as their new "buzz band." However, after only several months of popularity, the band decided to break up while in the middle of touring, leaving many disappointed fans (including myself) to collect refunds at their local venues. The band cited numerous reasons for the split, including their rigorous tour schedule, artistic differences, and Bixler and Rodriguez-Lopez's drug habits. Bixler later took full responsbility for the breakup, saying that he felt as though the ATDI was holding him back.

These days, Bixler and Rodriguez-Lopez are putting their drug-addled minds to good use, channeling Pink Floyd and Santana with their new prog-rock group, the Mars Volta. They are the only two permanent members of the band, but they often collaborate with various accomplished musicians, including Flea and John Frusciante of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. After ATDI's breakup, Hinojos, Hajjar, and Ward formed Sparta, a more straightforward post-hardcore band. They have released three albums that have all achieved moderate success. Ward has also developed a solo project called Sleepercar. Hinojos has recently left Sparta and joined the Mars Volta. The death of At the Drive-In is one of the rare cases where one great band splits off into two great bands.

Check out the video for "One Armed Scissor" from Relationship of Command here:

Death from Above 1979

Maintaining a band is very much like maintaining a relationship - especially when there are only two people involved. From the outset, Death from Above 1979 seemed too good to be true, and as it turns out, they were. DFA1979 consisted of Jesse F. Keeler on bass/synths and Sebastian Grainger on vocals/drums. In the sea of two-member rock outfits that were popping up in the early 2000's, they stood out in many ways. Even though they had no guitars, they were able to shred harder than any band on the indie rock scene. Keeler's chunky basslines somehow managed to channel Kyuss and Daft Punk at the same time, while Grainger wailed and moaned, frantically pounding the drums simultaneously. They were perfect complements to each other. Unfortunately, they were only in synch with each other for one EP and a single full-length.

Keeler and Grainger released their first EP, Heads Up, in 2002, and were eventually signed to Vice Records. At this point, they were still known as Death From Above, until LCD Soundsystem's James Murphy took legal action against them. His label, DFA Records, claimed that they had license to the name. The band's response was to add the minimum amount of characters legally required of them, so they landed on 1979. However, this did not sit well with DFA1979, as you could see on their website at the time, which literally declared a jihad on Murphy, saying, "If I had the resources, I would fly a plane into his skull," among many other things.

With their new moniker, DFA1979 released what would be their only proper LP, You're a Woman, I'm a Machine. The album starts with a screeching synth line, and once the drums and bass come in, it never stops. Grainger's alternatingly sweet and sexual lyrics stand in stark contrast to the sheer brutality of their instrumentals. In "Romantic Rights," he talks about wanting to settle down and start a family, while in "Pull Out"....well, you can figure that one out for yourself. This album, along with their infamy as a two-man wrecking crew onstage, launched them into the hype machine full force. It seemed that every hipster you ran into was talking about them. After their tour ended, they released a remix album, Romance Bloody Romance, featuring remixes by a wide range of artists, including Justice and Queens of the Stone Age singer, Josh Homme.

This was the last that anyone would hear from DFA1979. By 2006, it had been over a year since the remix album dropped, and they were still nowhere to be found. On August 4th, 2006, Keeler announced on their website that the band had been broken up since the end of their last tour. He said that they parted ways because of creative differences. While it is unfortunate that they had such limited productivity with DFA1979, their current projects reveal the fact that they were headed in two entirely different directions. Today, Keeler is one-half of MSTRKFT, the Canadian hipster answer to Daft Punk. Grainger is playing decidedly softer indie rock with his backup band, the Mountains, who recently signed with Saddle Creek Records.

Though we may never hear from Death from Above 1979 again, you can still catch little slivers of their music around if you listen hard enough. You can hear the opening riff to "Romantic Rights" in the credits for MTV2's sketch comedy show, Human Giant. The MSTRKRFT remix of "Sexy Results" was briefly in a commercial for the Motorola Q. Even atari-clash upstarts Crystal Castles lifted the opening synth line from "Dead Womb" as the verse to their track, "Untrust Us."

Check out the video for "Black History Month" here:

The Dismemberment Plan

One could make the argument that the late 90's/early 00's was the worst period in rock and roll history. Radio was divided between boy/girl pop and butt rock, pop-punk was just breaking through to the mainstream, and originality was at an all time low. It is easy to see how a groundbreaking band like the Dismemberment Plan fell through the cracks in such an environment. Forming in 1993 while still in high school, the D-Plan initially took their cues from local D.C. heroes, Fugazi and Jawbox. Their first two albums, 1995's ! & 1997's Is Terrified, exhibited their oddball take on post-hardcore, but it was not until the turn of the millenium that they reached the height of their genius.

From the outset, the Dismemberment Plan were tied to DeSoto Records, which was and still is owned by members of Jawbox. In 1998, they were briefly picked up by Interscope Records. During this time, they recorded what would be their masterpiece, Emergency & I. However, their only album that Interscope released officially was The Ice of Boston EP. The label postponed the release of the full-length indefinitely, and in 1999, they dropped the D-Plan with Emergency & I still not seeing the light of day. They went back to DeSoto, and released the album, which won over even the toughest critics. Pitchfork even placed it as their #16 album of the 90's just weeks after it came out.


It is obvious that the band poured every drop of their enthusiasm into Emergency & I, and on top of that, the album conveys a great sense of humor, something that indie rock was missing for the most part. The album opens with "A Life of Possibilities," which instantly launches into an unfathomable rhythm with Travis Morrison soaring in and out of his freestyle falsetto. There are keyboards present, but not your typical Cure-aping soaring synth lines. Here, the Rolands and Korgs bellow and pulse in truly bizarre fashion, yet somehow help to keep the song cohesive. From here, the band goes all over the place. "What Do You Want Me To Say?" bounces between scrambled verses and supertight choruses. "You Are Invited" is mostly just a programmed drum beat that occasionally teases with chiming guitars, until the entire band explodes onto the track without warning.

The underground success of Emergency & I afforded the band much better touring opportunities, as they were invited to open for Pearl Jam's 2000 European tour. However, they still were not able to cross over into the mainstream. In 2001, they recorded their final proper LP, Change, which was by far the band's most straightforward and approachable work. In 2002, they put all of the tracks from Emergency & I and Change on their website, and encouraged their fans to rearrange and submit them (which may have been the birth of the indie remix). They picked their favorites, and released them as A People's History of the Dismemberment Plan. Despite this novel idea and their new polished sound, the band broke up in January of 2003. They played one reunion show in 2007, at a benefit for Callum Robbins, the son of Jawbox/Burning Airlines singer J. Robbins, who suffers from spinal muscular atrophy.

Since the Dismemberment Plan's demise, Travis Morrison has released two solo LPs under his own name, working closely with Chris Walla and Jason McGerr from Death Cab for Cutie. Bassist Eric Axelson joined ex-members of the Promise Ring in Maritime from 2004 to 2006, and now plays with D-Plan drummer Joe Easley in a band called Statehood. None of these bands, however, have met either the commercial or critical success of the Dismemberment Plan.

Check out this fan-made video for "You Are Invited" from Emergency & I here:

Sharks Keep Moving

There are some music scenes that are so tightly knit and incestuous, that it is difficult to tell where one band starts and another begins. For example, in the early 80's, D.C.'s hardcore scene was based around Ian Mackaye and various Dischord affiliates, from Minor Threat all the way to Fugazi. In the early 90's, nearly every Chicago indie band was somehow involved with Cap'n Jazz and the Kinsella brothers. Today, it is difficult to find a Canadian band that is not associated with Broken Social Scene. Such collectives give birth to groups with varying levels of success and longevity, but are also inevitably responsible for a staggering number of casualties.

One of the most underrated indie scenes of the last decade is that of Seattle, Washington. Having kept relatively quiet after the demise of the grunge movement, the city began churning out a network of bands in the late 90's that are surprisingly relevant today. Sharks Keep Moving was one of the seminal bands of this scene. In 1997, after the dissolution of their relatively unknown post-hardcore group, State Route 522, Jake Snider, Nathan Turpen and Jeff DeGolier decided to change their sound a bit. Although always highly technical, they evolved into a more jazz-tinged, melodic indie format. They were joined by drummer Dan Dean in 1998, and released a split 7" with The Kentucky Pistol - Rocky Votolato's first band.

Between their built-in fanbase from State Route 522 and the momentum of the split EP, Sharks Keep Moving eventually gained the attention of both Second Nature Records and Status Records. They recorded the Desert Strings & Drifters EP with producer Matt Bayles, and released it on Second Nature. On this record, the band completely expanded their horizons, with odd time signatures and extended instrumental stretches. After the EP's release, Jeff DeGolier left the band, and was replaced by Morgan Henderson of the Blood Brothers.

In 1999, after some brief touring of the west coast, they went back into the studio with Matt Bayles, and recorded a self-titled full length, which they would release on Status. This album found the band nearing the 10-minute mark on several tracks, half of which were instrumental. When Snider did sing, the lyrics were delivered with a laid-back croon, generally dealing with Pacific Northwest pastimes, such as drinking, driving, smoking, and sailing. The band kept relatively quiet during the next year, and Dan Dean eventually left the band. He was soon replaced by J. Clark of Kill Sadie. After months of rumors that they were in the process of recording, the band finally released a 3-song EP titled Pause and Clause. Although this EP developed their sound even further, incorporating more jazz elements into the mix, it was the last collection of songs that they would record.

Sharks Keep Moving did not break up because of lack of exposure, personal differences, or any other of the many reasons that typically lead to a band's demise. Rather, these musicians were so prolific, that they could not maintain this band among the many others that they were involved in. Snider has found the greatest level of success as the lead singer/guitarist for the math-rock supergroup, Minus the Bear. J. Clark went on to form the female-fronted post hardcore group, Pretty Girls Make Graves, who broke up after 3 albums. He is currently playing in the Matador Records art-punk band, Jaguar Love. Morgan Henderson continued to play with the Blood Brothers until they broke up last year. Status Records announced that they were preparing a Sharks Keep Moving B-sides/remix CD back in 2001, but little has been said on the matter since.

Check out "Tied To The Tracks" from Pause and Clause here:

Jawbox / Burning Airlines

When a band relies on equal artistic contribution from each of its members, its death often results in a multitude of new groups, offering up tangential attempts at their previous work. In most cases, the resulting music falls considerably short of that of the original band. However, when one person is the brainchild for a dead band, there is a much stronger possibility of its reincarnation reaching the heights of the original. J. Robbins was such a mastermind for not one, but two landmark indie bands.

Robbins got his start playing bass with the final lineup of Government Issue, who were one of the most influential bands in the 80's D.C. punk scene. When the band dissolved in 1989, Robbins formed Jawbox with bassist Kim Coletta and drummer Adam Wade. They released their first album, Grippe, on Dischord Records, the most legendary indie label this side of Sub Pop. Bill Barbot joined the group as second guitarist and second singer just before the release of their sophomore record, Novelty. Zach Barocas also joined the band around this time, filling in for Wade. Both of these albums led to their creation of DeSoto Records, which went on to become a fairly successful indie label in its own right.

From the outset, Jawbox's music was intense yet melodic, much like their post-hardcore peers, Shudder to Think. Both bands developed legions of die hard fans that felt as though the bands were their own little secrets. However, both bands left Dischord Records for major labels in 1994, causing a massive outcry from their fans. Jawbox signed to Atlantic Records, and rather than conforming their sound to that of modern rock, they managed to create their unique masterpiece, For Your Own Special Sweetheart. This album yielded two singles, "Savory" and "Cooling Card," both of which received limited play from radio and MTV. After releasing a final self-titled album in 1997, Jawbox were dropped from Atlantic.

While Jawbox was still in its final stages, Robbins and Barbot had been playing on the side with former Government Issue drummer Peter Moffett. They briefly considered including him in Jawbox after Barocas left the band, but this lineup never quite worked out. Jawbox officially broke up, and Robbins, Barbot and Moffett created Burning Airlines, taking their name from a Brian Eno song.

Over the last few years of Jawbox's existence, Robbins started working as a producer for many bands, including Braid, The Promise Ring, and Jawbreaker, to name a few. With Burning Airlines, he worked on both sides of the studio, as the artist and producer. This allowed him to fully develop his songs, playing with different textures and effects as needed.

Burning Airlines recorded two albums on DeSoto Records: 1999's Mission:Control!, and 2001's Identikit. Though they never quite broke into the mainstream, both albums were extremely well received in the indie rock community, and remain highly influential. After the events of September 11, 2001, many venues refused to display the band's name on their marquees, and they considered changing their name. Despite their decision to keep the name, the band broke up within several months.

These days, Bill Barbot and Kim Coletta still run DeSoto Records, now home to such bands as Maritime and The Life and Times. The label has recently purchased the entire Jawbox catalog from Dischord and Atlantic, and released them on iTunes. J. Robbins has become an in-demand producer for indie and punk bands, having most recently worked with Clutch, Against Me!, and Yeasayer. He is also currently playing with two bands: Report Suspicious Activity, a political hardcore band in which he plays bass, and Channels, in which he trades off vocal duties with his wife, Janet Morgan. Even though his bands may dissolve and reform with different combinations of collaborators, J. Robbins will always push the bar higher for indie rock in one way or another.

Check out the video for "Savory" from For Your Own Special Sweetheart here:

Race Car Riot

It is difficult for fans to deal with the loss of a dead band, but they usually have a catalog of multiple albums and/or EPs to remember them by. It is much harder to accept a band's death when they leave only a handful of scattered tracks behind them. Race Car Riot is perhaps the most tragic dead band of all, considering the fact that they professionally recorded only 5 songs during their entire career. This is made even worse by the fact that these songs appear on 3 different albums. Despite their confounding lack of studio material, the few tracks that Race Car Riot did manage to leave behind are absolutely stellar, and suprisingly influential.

The band's first appearance was in 1997, on the poorly named Deep Elm Records compilation, What's Mine Is Yours: The Emo Diaries - Chapter One. Their song "The Last in 4000" is an epic instrumental that instituted the sad yet triumphant sound that is currently selling out venues across the country in the form of fellow Texans, Explosions in the Sky. Deep Elm chose to pick the band up for the first in their split EP series, alongside Planes Mistaken For Stars and the Appleseed Cast. This EP accounted for the majority of their work, with 3 songs, only 1 of which utilized Jason Jordan's vocals. Their final release, the aptly named "Discontinued," did not surface until 2002, on Deep Elm Unreleased Vol. 2.

As a tragic epilogue to Race Car Riot's existence, Jason Jordan created a MySpace page for the band in 2005, announcing that they were regrouping to create a brand new full length. He even posted several new songs that he tracked himself under the alternate band name, The Secret Songs. However, through Jordan's few blog posts, it became clear that the band was not receiving the attention that they had hoped for. The final post, labeled "Musical Doom," reads like a suicide note, announcing that the last remaining member of the band was giving up, leaving him alone, and that if this happened, the band would surely die. There has been no word of any future productivity since.

Check out the band's MySpace page for 2 tracks, as well as their parting words to their fans:
http://www.myspace.com/racecarriot