Jejune

Last updated
Jejune
Origin Boston, Massachusetts
Genres Emo
Years active1996–2000
LabelsBig Wheel Recreation
MembersArabella Harrison
Joe Guevara
Chris Vanacore
Mark Murino (1999-2000)

Jejune was an American emo band formed in 1996 at Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. The band was heavily involved with the scene at the peak of the "second wave" of emo in the mid-1990s. [1] The three founding members, Arabella Harrison (bass/vocals), Joe Guevara (guitar/vocals) and Chris Vanacore (drums), met while studying at Berklee. The band relocated to San Diego in 1997. They released two albums on Big Wheel Recreation and several splits before disbanding in 2000, their last release being the posthumous album R.I.P., released by Big Wheel that same year.

Contents

History

1996-1999: Formation

Guevara had previously been in I Wish I, a hardcore punk band originally from San Diego. After moving to Massachusetts to go to Berklee, Vanacore met Guevara through a shared love of Unbroken. The two started writing music together, but needed a bassist. Guevara contacted Harrison, who he had met through classes. Harrison didn't have one, but borrowed a friend's bass to play. [2]

The band's first releases included a split with Garden Variety and appearances on a couple of compilations. They continued recording demos with the expectation of eventually recording their debut album but ended up issuing many of the demos as their first album, Junk, in 1997 on Big Wheel Recreation. The title is said to come from what Arabella thought of the songs. [3] A split single with Jimmy Eat World was released that same year. Vanacore tagged along with Jimmy Eat World as a roadie on the tour after the split's release as Jejune made their move down to San Diego. While the band enjoyed playing in San Diego, they admitted that the scene wasn't the same as Boston's. [2]

In 1998, This Afternoon's Malady was released. The album's reception was mixed upon release, [2] but they were praised for improving on the sound shown in Junk. [4] The mixed responses often came from the fact that the album was considered emo at a time when the word had a negative connotation.

Over the span of their existence, the band undertook several tours of the US, including stints with The Get Up Kids, Blacktop Cadence, Braid, Piebald, and a late 1998 tour with Jimmy Eat World.

In early 1999, the band added Mark Murino on second guitar to expand their live sound. Not long after, the band undertook a European tour with Kill Holiday.

1999-2000: Breakup

Towards the end of 1999, several bands in the indie emo scene of the time attempted to distance themselves from the emo label. Jejune, as a band, started exploring more pop-leaning sounds and were planning to record their third album. However, internal tensions among the band members regarding the new direction led to the band's disbandment in early 2000. In September of that same year, Big Wheel Recreation compiled and released RIP, a compilation album featuring the completed demos for the third album, remastered or alternate takes of songs from previous releases, and a couple unreleased songs.

After the band's breakup, Lovelight Shine was founded by Guevara, Murino, and Vanacore. The group released an EP through Big Wheel Recreation, and a second self-released EP, before disbanding. After that, Murino and Vanacore formed Dirty Sweet, while Guevara began playing piano for blues artist Lady Dottie. Following the split, Harrison joined The And/Ors and more recently, she pursued a solo career, with Vanacore occasionally joining her on the drums. Additionally, she is a member of the country band Bartender's Bible. [5]

Style

The band's earliest songs consisted of a more punk rock style, such as on Junk. This Afternoon's Malady marked a notable departure from their more indie rock leanings on their debut and saw them lead towards more of a dream pop sound. [6] Some songs on R.I.P. delved into more of a sparse and electronic sound, expanding on the synth sound that could be heard on some songs off This Afternoon's Malady and their split with Jimmy Eat World, while others combined their previous dream pop sound with 90's pop.

Members

Discography

Albums

Singles

Appearances

Related Research Articles

Emo is a 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-to-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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jimmy Eat World</span> American rock band

Jimmy Eat World is an American rock band formed in 1993 in Mesa, Arizona. The band is composed of lead vocalist and lead guitarist Jim Adkins, rhythm guitarist and backing vocalist Tom Linton, bassist Rick Burch, and drummer Zach Lind. They have released ten studio albums, the last nine featuring the current line-up.

Mineral is an American emo band originally from Houston, Texas. Soon after their formation, they relocated to Austin. All four members of Mineral were signed to Interscope Records, but disbanded before a release was made. The band worked on other musical projects after disbanding, including The Gloria Record, Pop Unknown, Zookeeper, and Mountaintime.

<i>Four Minute Mile</i> 1997 studio album by the Get Up Kids

Four Minute Mile is the debut studio album by American rock band the Get Up Kids.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Duane Denison</span> American musician (born 1959)

Duane Denison is an American guitarist best known for work with the punk rock band The Jesus Lizard. He is also a founding member of super-group Tomahawk.

<i>Bleed American</i> 2001 studio album by Jimmy Eat World

Bleed American is the fourth studio album by the American rock band Jimmy Eat World, released on July 24, 2001, by DreamWorks Records. The album was re-released as Jimmy Eat World following the September 11 attacks; that name remained until 2008, when it was re-released with its original title returned.

<i>Static Prevails</i> 1996 studio album by Jimmy Eat World

Static Prevails is the second studio album by American rock band Jimmy Eat World, released on July 23, 1996, through Capitol Records. Following the release of the band's self-titled debut album (1994), they signed to Capitol in mid-1995 for further releases. Carrier member Rick Burch replaced bassist Mitchel Porter, who left to become a Mormon missionary. Recorded at Sound City in Los Angeles, California, and at Big Fish, in Encinitas, California, Wes Kidd, Mark Trombino, and Jimmy Eat World acted as producers for the album.

<i>Clarity</i> (Jimmy Eat World album) 1999 studio album by Jimmy Eat World

Clarity is the third studio album by American rock band Jimmy Eat World. It was released on February 23, 1999, through Capitol Records, with which Jimmy Eat World clashed several times while recording their second studio album Static Prevails (1996). The band recorded a follow-up with producer Mark Trombino in May and June 1998, and were free to make it however they wanted without interference from Capitol. The recording sessions began at Sound City in Van Nuys, California, before moving to Clear Lake Audio in North Hollywood, California. Clarity, which is described as an emo, pop punk, and punk rock release, marked the beginning of frontman Jim Adkins' tenure as the band's main vocalist, taking over from guitarist Tom Linton.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ill Repute</span> American hardcore punk band

Ill Repute is an American hardcore punk band from Oxnard, California, United States, formed in 1981. They are noted for popularizing the "Nardcore" sound in the mid-1980s hardcore punk scene, and recorded for Mystic Records.

The Vehicle Birth (VB) was a rock band that performed and recorded between January 1993 and May 1999.

Deep Elm Records is an independent record label releasing albums by bands such as Lights & Motion, The Appleseed Cast, Brandtson, The White Octave, and Planes Mistaken for Stars. It also released the compilation series The Emo Diaries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lucky Denver Mint</span> 1998 single by Jimmy Eat World

"Lucky Denver Mint" is a song by American rock band Jimmy Eat World from their third studio album Clarity, which was released on February 23, 1999. The song was also formally released as a promotional single in early 1999.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Davey von Bohlen</span> American musician and songwriter

Davey von Bohlen is an American musician and songwriter. He is best known for serving as lead vocalist and guitarist of the emo band The Promise Ring and also as guitarist and backing vocalist in short-lived cult band Cap'n Jazz originally from 1993 to 1995.

Garden Variety was an American post-hardcore band active in the 1990s. Their sound drew on a wide variety of established underground acts such as Soul Asylum, Squirrel Bait, and Jawbox.

Seven Storey Mountain was an American rock group from Phoenix, Arizona. The group's music was heavily influenced by the early Washington, D.C. post-hardcore scene.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Animal (Jebediah song)</span> 1999 single by Jebediah

"Animal" is a song by Australian alternative rock band Jebediah's, released on 9 August 1999 as the lead single from the band's second studio album. The song reached number 16 on the Australian ARIA Singles Chart and polled at number 19 on national radio station, Triple J's Hottest 100 for 1999. The track was co-written by all four band members: Chris Daymond, Brett Mitchell, Kevin Mitchell and Vanessa Thornton.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jimmy Eat World discography</span>

The American rock band Jimmy Eat World has released ten studio albums, twenty-three singles, seven extended plays, three live albums, one compilation album, one video album, and one song on the "various artists" compilation What's Mine Is Yours.

Emo pop is a fusion genre combining emo with pop-punk, pop music, or both. Emo pop features a musical style with more concise composition and hook-filled choruses. Emo pop has its origins in the 1990s with bands like Jimmy Eat World, the Get Up Kids, Weezer and the Promise Ring. The genre entered the mainstream in the early 2000s with Jimmy Eat World's breakthrough album Bleed American, which included its song "The Middle". Other emo pop bands that achieved mainstream success throughout the decade included Fall Out Boy, the All-American Rejects, My Chemical Romance, Panic! at the Disco and Paramore. The popularity of emo pop declined in the 2010s, with some prominent artists in the genre either disbanding or abandoning the emo pop style.

The Emo Diaries is a series of twelve compilation albums released by Deep Elm Records between 1997 and 2011. The series had an open submissions policy and featured mostly acts that were unsigned at the time of the albums' releases. Deep Elm founder John Szuch claims that the original name for the series was intended to be The Indie Rock Diaries, but this was ruled out by the fact that the first volume included Jimmy Eat World and Samiam, who were both signed to major record labels. The Emo Diaries was chosen because The Emotional Diaries was too long to fit on the album cover. Despite the title, the bands featured in the series have a diversity of sounds that do not all necessarily fit into the emo style of rock music. Andy Greenwald, in his book Nothing Feels Good: Punk Rock, Teenagers, and Emo, claims that the series "stake[s] a claim for emo as more a shared aesthetic than a genre":

[T]he bands included hail from all over the world, and the musical styles range from racing punk to droopy, noodley electro. Still, the prevalence of the series—coupled with its maudlin subtitles and manic-depressive tattoo cover art—did much to codify the word "emo" and spread it to all corners of the underground.

Alex Garcia-Rivera is an American rock drummer, drum-tech and recording engineer from Boston, Massachusetts. He has been the drummer for the bands Shelter, Piebald, Good Clean Fun, Bloodhorse, 454 Big Block, Saves The Day, Cold Cave, but is best known as the drummer for hardcore/punk band American Nightmare. He also performs all instruments in a solo band under the moniker Chrome Over Brass and owns and operates Mystic Valley Studio, an all-analog recording studio in Medford, Massachusetts.

References

  1. Ian Cohen; David Anthony; Nina Corcoran; Emma Garland; Brad Nelson (February 13, 2020). "The 100 Greatest Emo Songs of All Time". Vulture.com. Vox Media. Archived from the original on February 13, 2020. Retrieved February 15, 2020.
  2. 1 2 3 Zauderer, Alyx (2018-09-13). "Plumb Line: Jejune (1996 - 2000) An Oral History". Allston Pudding. Archived from the original on 2024-01-16. Retrieved 2024-01-16.
  3. Podcast, This Was The Scene (2023-01-06). "Episode 203 Jejune Joe Guevara". This Was The Scene. Archived from the original on 2024-01-16. Retrieved 2024-01-15.
  4. Oomie (1999-01-01). "Jejune – This Afternoons Malady – Review | Lollipop Magazine". Archived from the original on 2022-11-28. Retrieved 2024-01-16.
  5. "Jejune: R.I.P. | PopMatters". 2016-03-04. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2024-05-14.
  6. Bushman, Michael Review: JeJune - R.I.P. Archived 2014-03-22 at the Wayback Machine , Modernfix.com