Emo is a rock music genre characterized by emotional, often confessional lyrics. It emerged as a style of hardcore punk and post-hardcore from the mid-1980s Washington, D.C. hardcore scene, where it was known as emotional hardcore or emocore. The bands Rites of Spring and Embrace, among others, pioneered the genre. In the early and mid 1990s, emo was adopted and reinvented by alternative rock, indie rock, punk rock, and pop-punk bands, including Sunny Day Real Estate, Jawbreaker, Cap'n Jazz, and Jimmy Eat World. By the mid-1990s, Braid, the Promise Ring, and the Get Up Kids emerged from Midwest emo, and several independent record labels began to specialize in the genre. Meanwhile, screamo, a more aggressive style of emo using screamed vocals, also emerged, pioneered by the San Diego bands Heroin and Antioch Arrow. Screamo achieved mainstream success in the 2000s with bands like Hawthorne Heights, Silverstein, Story of the Year, Thursday, the Used, and Underoath.
Joan of Arc was an American indie rock band from Chicago, Illinois named after the French saint Joan of Arc. They formed in 1995, following the breakup of Cap'n Jazz.
The Dismemberment Plan was a Washington, D.C. based indie rock band formed on January 1, 1993. Also known as D-Plan or The Plan, the name was derived from an industry phrase used by insurance salesman Ned Ryerson in the popular comedy Groundhog Day. The band members included Eric Axelson (bass), Jason Caddell (guitar), Joe Easley (drums), and Travis Morrison. Axelson, Caddell, Morrison and original drummer Steve Cummings formed the band in college, knowing each other from attending northern Virginia high schools. Cummings left the band after the recording of their debut album ! and was replaced by Easley, cementing the band's lineup.
The Promise Ring was an American rock band from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, that is recognized as part of the second wave of emo. Among various other EPs and singles, the band released four studio albums during their initial run: 30° Everywhere (1996), Nothing Feels Good (1997), Very Emergency (1999), and Wood/Water (2002). Their first two albums solidified their place among the emo scene; their third effort shifted toward pop music, while their final record was much more experimental in nature. The band initially broke up in 2002 and has reunited sporadically since then to perform live, but no new material from the band has since been released. They were last active for a live performance in 2016.
Emergency & I is the third studio album by American indie rock band The Dismemberment Plan, released in 1999 by DeSoto Records. It was produced by J. Robbins and Chad Clark, and primarily recorded at Water Music Studios in 1998, with additional recordings done at Inner Ear Studios. At its release, the album was met with critical acclaim, receiving praise for its instrumental performances and lyrics.
Cap'n Jazz is an American emo band.
Maritime is an American indie pop band formed in 2003 after the breakup of The Promise Ring and The Dismemberment Plan.
The Benjamins were an American, Milwaukee, Wisconsin-based pop punk/rock band, that were together from 1998 to 2001.
Owls are an indie rock band from Chicago, Illinois. They were initially active from 2001 to 2002 and reunited in 2012. The band is composed of the original lineup of the emo band Cap'n Jazz excluding guitarist Davey von Bohlen, who had left to form The Promise Ring. The lineup has included brothers Tim Kinsella and Mike Kinsella, guitarist Victor Villareal and bassist Sam Zurick. Tim Kinsella and Zurick have also played together in Joan of Arc and Make Believe. Villarreal and Zurick played together in the instrumental rock group Ghosts and Vodka. The band signed to Jade Tree on May 3, 2001, and released their debut on July 31.
Tim Kinsella is an American musician, author, and film director from Chicago, Illinois.
30° Everywhere is the debut studio album by American rock band the Promise Ring. It was released in 1996 on Jade Tree.
The Horse Latitudes is an EP by the emo band The Promise Ring. It was released in 1997 on Jade Tree Records. The album was released between their debut album 30° Everywhere and their hit record Nothing Feels Good.
Nothing Feels Good is the second studio album by American rock band the Promise Ring, released on October 14, 1997. The album has gained a cult following, and is frequently regarded as one of the most influential records of the emo genre. The title of the album was used as the name of the book Nothing Feels Good: Punk Rock, Teenagers, and Emo by Andy Greenwald. Original bass player Scott Beschta is credited with writing and playing all the bass parts for the album, although he had been fired by the time the album was released.
Very Emergency is the third studio album by American rock band the Promise Ring, released on September 28, 1999 through the label Jade Tree. Following the release of their second studio album Nothing Feels Good (1997), bassist Scott Beschta was replaced by Tim Burton. After a van accident, which resulted in a six-week break, Burton was replaced by Scott Schoenbeck. The band recorded their next album at Inner Ear Studios in Washington, D.C., co-producing it with J. Robbins. Very Emergency is a power pop and pop rock album that moves away from the emo style of their earlier works. It continued the sound of the Boys + Girls (1998) EP, and was compared to the work of the Lemonheads, the Pixies, Soul Asylum and the Wedding Present.
Wood/Water is the fourth and final studio album by American rock band the Promise Ring. It was released by Anti- on April 23, 2002. While touring in support of their third studio album, Very Emergency (1999), the Promise Ring were due to leave for a European tour; frontman Davey von Bohlen was diagnosed with meningioma on the day of departure. As a result of a post-surgical infection, the band could not tour for the remainder of 2000. In early 2001, the Promise Ring made demos with Kristian Riley, and then recorded a track with producer Mario Caldato Jr. in Los Angeles, California. The Promise Ring flew to the UK for six weeks of recording with Stephen Street, before returning to Milwaukee, Wisconsin for further recording. The album moved away from the emo sound of the band's past works into alternative country, indie rock, and pop territory.
Mike Kinsella is an American musician and singer-songwriter. Having been involved in many Illinois-based bands, he is best known as the lead vocalist and guitarist of the emo band American Football.
Burritos, Inspiration Point, Fork Balloon Sports, Cards in the Spokes, Automatic Biographies, Kites, Kung Fu, Trophies, Banana Peels We've Slipped On, and Egg Shells We've Tippy Toed Over is the only full-length studio album by the American emo band Cap'n Jazz, released in 1995 on Man With Gun Records. It is also referred to as the Shmap'n Shmazz LP. For a long period of time, the record in its original form was completely out of print—only recently has it been reissued on Polyvinyl Records on cassette tape and digitally. There was also a reissue of the vinyl LP licensed by Tiny Superhero records in the UK.
Vermont was a Milwaukee, Wisconsin-based indie rock band and collaboration between Davey von Bohlen and Dan Didier of The Promise Ring and Chris Roseanau of Pele. The band released two albums on Kindercore Records and broke up in 2001, before von Bohlen founding the band Maritime.
Owls is the debut studio album by American rock band Owls, which was released on July 31, 2001, through Jade Tree. After the disbandment of Joan of Arc, frontman Tim Kinsella reunited with the former members of Cap'n Jazz to form Owls. They recorded with Steve Albini at Electrical Audio in Chicago, Illinois, in April 2001. The album is an emo and indie rock record that has been compared with the works of Ghosts and Vodka, Pavement, and Captain Beefheart.
