Indie-pop trio Beezus emerged from the thriving Champaign-Urbana, Illinois music scene in 1995 with the LP Breakfast Was Weird; comprised of singer/guitarist Loretta Gaffney, singer/bassist Elizabeth Majerus and drummer Joy Gadrinab, the group next resurfaced in 1997 with the excellent Lives of the Saints. Although second guitarist Brian Runk... [+] Read More

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Boys Life were a Kansas City, Mo., band with an intensely energetic, but dissonant sound that sprung out of the post-hardcore scene in 1993. The band began releasing material on split 7" records with other local outfits Secular Theme and Giants Chair. Relying on a stripped-down sound punctuated by out-of-tune, noisy guitars and a ‘quiet' then... [+] Read More

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Short-lived but highly influential, Cap'n Jazz helped transform emo from a deeply underground punk subgenre into a more widely accepted subset of indie rock. Not terribly popular or well-known outside of the Midwest, Cap'n Jazz's main contribution was stylistic -- along with Pinkerton-era Weezer, they helped shift emo's always-elusive musical... [+] Read More

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Ian Mackaye and Brian Baker weren't the only ones to move leaps and bounds beyond Minor Threat. From 1989 to 1993, Jeff Nelson drummed for High Back Chairs, very nearly the first and last Dischord power pop band. Peter Hayes, who fronts the Peter Hayes Condition, took the lead for this band. Hayes also played in Wonderama with Nelson and bassist... [+] Read More

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Based on their roots and their hometown, it's not surprising that Chicago's Joan of Arc blends post-rock's atmospherics and punk's volume and dynamics. Singer/guitarist Tim Kinsella, drummer Mike Kinsella, and bassist Sam Zurick came from the emocore band Cap'n Jazz; when that band broke up, the trio wanted to change their musical direction.... [+] Read More

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Before fronting the Capitol City Dusters, Alec Bourgeois held the mic for Severin, an early-'90s D.C. indie rock band that featured Gray Matter guitarist Mark Haggerty. Bourgeois founded Superbad Records, which co-released three Severin singles with Dischord Records. The band's textured, anxious sound got some West Coast recording on a single... [+] Read More

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Considering their relatively brief existence, Sunny Day Real Estate racked up enough dramatic twists and turns to rank with some of the great rock soap operas. Its key members have engaged in just about every rock cliché imaginable, including finding religion, refusing to work with the media, breaking up, and joining a big-name group, and even... [+] Read More

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Kansas City's the Get Up Kids play melodic, pop-inflected emo similar to the Promise Ring and Braid, with whom the band released a split single in 1998. The group debuted in 1996 with a slew of 7"s, including Shorty on the Huey Proudhon label and All Stars on Doghouse Records, which became their main record label. Their debut full-length, Four... [+] Read More

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The Promise Ring were one of the most popular emo bands of the '90s, epitomizing the poppier, more accessible wing of the style. Along with Sunny Day Real Estate, the Get Up Kids, Braid, and Jimmy Eat World, they helped bring emo from the punk underground to a wider indie rock audience in the latter half of the decade. Like the exact definition... [+] Read More

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