Phantom Tollbooth was a post-punk/noise rock band from New York City. [1] They played a style of post punk that included elements from jazz, [2] noise rock, and art rock. [1] [3] This allowed Phantom Tollbooth to make sudden starts, stops, and tempo changes in their music. [4] All of their albums were released in a four-year window between 1984 and 1988 on Homestead Records. In 2003, Guided by Voices frontman Robert Pollard created new lyrics and melodies for Phantom Tollbooth's 1988 album Power Toy. [3] The resulting work was released as Beard of Lightning. [5]
Guided by Voices is an American indie rock band formed in 1983 in Dayton, Ohio. It has made frequent personnel changes but always maintained the presence of principal songwriter Robert Pollard. The most well-known lineup of the band consisted of Pollard, his brother Jim, Mitch Mitchell, Tobin Sprout, Kevin Fennell (drums), and bassist Greg Demos. Noted at first for its lo-fi aesthetic and Portastudio four-tracks-to-cassette production methods, Guided by Voices' music was influenced by early post–British Invasion garage rock, psychedelic rock, progressive rock, punk rock and post-punk. The band has had a prolific output, releasing 40 full-length albums along with many other releases, and has garnered a dedicated cult following. Their songs are known for their frequent brevity and for ending abruptly or intertwining with homemade sound effects.
Robert Ellsworth Pollard Jr. is an American singer and songwriter. He is the leader of indie rock group Guided by Voices. In addition to this, he has also released 22 solo albums.
The Queers are an American punk rock band, formed in 1981 by Portsmouth, New Hampshire native Joseph “Joe” P. King along with Scott Gildersleeve, and John “Jack” Hayes. With the addition of Keith Hages joining on bass in 1983 the band started playing their first public performances. The revised line-up played a total of six live shows between 1983 and 1984. This earliest era of The Queers formation initially broke up in late 1984; however, Joe Queer re-formed the band with an all-new line-up in 1986. In 1990, after several more band line-up changes the band signed with Shakin' Street Records to release their debut album, Grow Up. The album earned the band notability within New England, but with the release of their next album, 1993's Love Songs for the Retarded, on Lookout! Records, their following grew.
Poor Old Lu was a pioneering Christian alternative rock band based in the American Northwest. The band experimented with a variety of sounds and genres, particularly grunge, funk and psychedelic rock. The band consisted of Scott Hunter (vocals), Jesse Sprinkle (drums), Aaron Sprinkle (guitar), and Nick Barber (bass). Hunter was the lyricist who wrote on philosophical, metaphorical, and spiritually oriented topics. Common themes in the lyrics include introspective struggles with identity and spirituality, struggles with a superficial, secular, and modern society, and hope for life abundant. The Encyclopedia of Contemporary Christian Music calls the band "One of the most accomplished and creative Christian bands of the '90s".
Mag Earwhig! is the 10th studio album by American indie rock band Guided by Voices. Following the dissolution of the group's "classic" lineup, band-leader Robert Pollard recruited Cleveland group Cobra Verde as his backing band, while retaining the Guided by Voices name. It was the second release to feature future long-term collaborator Doug Gillard. Gillard had previously played on and co-wrote the song "Mice Feel Nice " on the Tigerbomb EP. Most of Mag Earwhig! was recorded in a professional studio in Cleveland by the new lineup and marked a departure from band's trademark lo-fi sound; additional songs were also recorded in Dayton, Ohio.
Douglas Scott Gillard is an American guitarist and songwriter. He has been a member of major indie pop and punk bands, most notably Guided by Voices, Nada Surf, Bambi Kino, Death of Samantha, and Cobra Verde.
Attitude Adjustment is an American crossover thrash band from the San Francisco Bay Area. Their debut album, American Paranoia, is considered to be an early "crossover" between hardcore punk and thrash metal.
Death of Samantha is an American rock band from Cleveland, Ohio, United States. Founded in 1983, the quartet debuted at a Ground Round family restaurant in Parma Heights. Death of Samantha played a farewell show on December 15, 1990, but later regrouped on December 23, 2012, with its original four-piece lineup: vocalist/guitarist John Petkovic, lead guitarist Doug Gillard, bassist David James and drummer Steven "Steve-O" Eierdam.
Disorder are an English street punk band that formed in the Bristol area of England in 1980, and has existed with varying line-ups. They are aligned with politically charged punk bands.
Leviticus is a Christian metal band from Sweden. The band formed in 1981 and is led by Bjorn Stigsson. They released four albums before breaking up in 1990.
No Use for a Name was an American punk rock band from Sunnyvale, California, formed in 1986 by Chris Dodge (guitar), Steve Papoutsis (bass) and Rory Koff (drums). The band's sound evolved considerably through its career, starting off as a Bay Area-influenced punk band, moving on to a much heavier metallic-tinted sound to finally taking on a much lighter brand of melodic punk as the years passed. Following Tony Sly's death on July 31, 2012, the remaining members chose to disband the group out of respect for him.
Boston Spaceships was a rock band featuring Robert Pollard and Chris Slusarenko of Guided By Voices, and John Moen of The Decemberists and Perhapst. The name of the band came from a nickname Pollard gave to the Boston cream donut from Krispy Kreme, which is Pollard's favorite donut. The band released several albums before disbanding in 2011 with their final album Let it Beard.
Lust Control is a Christian thrash punk band, originally formed in 1988. They are known for their explicit lyrical content, which is devoted to matters of sexual purity and sin, including abstinence, masturbation, pornography, sex ed, and related topics. For their unwavering views on sexual purity, CCM magazine has called Lust Control "the Josh McDowell of the Christian rock world." Musically they have been likened to The Ramones or The Dead Milkmen. The band formed as a joke and was not meant for long term exposure, which has led some to refer to it as a Christian version of Spinal Tap. Lust Control received the title of "The Worst Christian Band of the Decade" for the 1990s from HM.
When People Were Shorter and Lived Near the Water was an American experimental psychedelic rock band from New York City active from 1986 to 1996. Their three albums and several EPs consist of experimental cover versions of songs from various genres of popular music.
Beard of Lightning is an album by Phantom Tollbooth, released in 2003 with Robert Pollard on lead vocals.
Bored were an Australian punk band formed in Geelong in 1987. The original line-up was Grant Gardner on bass guitar, Adrian Hann on keyboards, Justin Munday on drums, John Nolan on guitar and Dave Thomas on guitar and vocals. In 1989 Gardner was replaced by Tim Hemensley. Both Hemensley and Nolan left in 1991 to form Powder Monkeys. Bored! released five studio albums by 1993 and disbanded later that year. Thomas briefly joined Magic Dirt and subsequently enlisted various line-ups for reformed versions of Bored! in 1998, 1999 and 2000.
The Blamed is an American Christian hardcore punk band currently based out of Chicago. During their tenure they have played primarily hardcore punk, pop punk, punk rock, and emo music with some influences from metal as well. They originally are from California having relocated to Illinois after guitarist Bryan Gray moved to Chicago. The band originally formed in 1994 and disbanded in 2003. Members during this era of the band included Bryan Gray, Christopher Wiitala, Trevor Wiitala, Jeff Locke, Jim Chaffin, John Hansen, and Matt Switaj. They have released three albums, with Tooth & Nail Records, 21 in 1994, Frail in 1996, and Give Us Barabbas in 2002. The band released four albums, with Grrr Records, ...Again in 1998, Forever in 1999, Germany in 2000, and Isolated Incident in 2001. The band reformed in the summer of 2016 to play a one-off set at Audio Feed music festival. This has since lead to the band reforming and recording a split EP with the Chicago hardcore band The Satire, a band sharing multiple members with the Blamed. The split EP was released in November 2018 through Indivision Music.
Grave Robber is an American horror punk band from Fort Wayne, Indiana. The band started rehearsing in 2005. In 2006, Grave Robber released a vinyl EP, Love Hurts independently. Their first two studio albums, Be Afraid and Inner Sanctum, were released by Retroactive Records, correspondingly in 2008 and 2009. The subsequent three studio albums, Exhumed, You're All Gonna Die!, and Escaping The Grave were released by Rottweiler Records, correspondingly in 2010, 2011, and 2018. An EP, Straight To Hell was released in 2014. Rottweiler Records has acquired the rights to Be Afraid and Inner Sanctum, with plans to re-release in 2023.
Warlord was an American band whose sound was described as "doomcore", a mix between doom metal and hardcore punk. Formed in 1997, Warlord was signed to Solid State Records during their brief existence. Before disbanding, the band did a tour with fellow Solid State band, Training for Utopia. The band has a compilation coming out, to help drummer Timothy Henderson with his health problems. The compilation has a new song and an unreleased track from Rock the Foe Hammer.
Rock the Foe Hammer is the debut and only album by American metal band Warlord. The album was released on July 13, 1999 on Solid State Records. It was the first release to feature Bassist Phil Smith.