Washington, D.C.'s Beefeater was formed in 1984 by vocalist Thomas Squip (the former drummer in Red C), guitarist Fred “Not Sonic" Smith, bassist Dug E. Bird, and drummer Bruce Atchley Taylor. Plays for Lovers, the band's debut album, was released in 1985 on the Dischord label. Two years passed until the band's follow up and final album, House... [+] 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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Girls Against Boys' dual-bass attack and Scott McCloud's wheezy sing-speak vocals (reminiscent of the Fall's Mark E. Smith) produce an energetic, if sometimes noisy, sound that would probably annoy listeners if it weren't for the Baltimore band's great Fugazi-influenced songs. The band's 1989 debut album Tropic of Scorpio appeared on Adult Swim... [+] Read More

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Formed in the summer 1983 from the ashes of several Washington, D.C., area punk bands, Gray Matter's mix of melody and punk power helped key the 1984-1985 punk resurgence in the nation's capitol. Consisting of guitarist Mark Haggerty and drummer Dante Ferrando (both of controversial first wave Dischord band Iron Cross), guitarist and singer Jeff... [+] 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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In their eight-year existence, Jawbox released four studio albums of increasingly skillful post-punk, not necessarily carrying the torch of their Washington, D.C., elders (Minor Threat, Embrace, Rites of Spring), but instead building on the tradition of Chicago's thriving early-'80s scene (Big Black, Naked Raygun, Effigies). Highly and unfairly... [+] Read More

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Formed in Baltimore, MD, way back in 1988, Lungfish is one of the longest surviving emo bands. Signed to D.C.'s Dischord, Lungfish's highly intense, minimalist yet complex music has been called everything from Taoistic to stoic. Singer and lyricist Daniel Higgs bares his soul with each profound album and is so driven to write that he published... [+] 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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With a sound that resembles what would happen if Tony Iommi played organ rather than guitar in Black Sabbath, the Apes have been playing throughout their native of Washington, D.C., since their formation in 1999. Consisting of Erick Jackson (bass/moog), Amanda Kleinman (organ), Jeff Schmid (bass), andPaul Weil (vocals), Frenchkiss Records would... [+] Read More

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Willfully abrasive and atonal, the Jesus Lizard emerged in the early '90s as a leading noise rock band in the American independent underground. During the first part of the decade, the band turned out a series of independent records filled with scathing, disembowelling, guitar-driven pseudo-industrial noise, all of which received positive... [+] 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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