One of the less celebrated bands on the Dischord label, Ignition mainly offered D.C.-style emocore of the post-Fugazi/Rites of Spring/Dag Nasty variety. Vocalist Alec MacKaye -brother of Fugazi's Ian, and formerly of The Untouchables and the Faith- reteamed with ex-Faith bandmate Chris Bald, now on guitar instead of bass, in the summer of 1986. (Bald, along with most of the other Faith members, had been part of the recently defunct emo pioneers Embrace.) They were joined by the rhythm section of bassist Chris Thomson, who occasionally doubled on saxophone, and drummer Dante Ferrando, who'd previously played with D.C. scene staples Iron Cross and Gray Matter. The group debuted with two 7" singles, "Sinker" and "Anger Means," in early 1988, and followed those with their debut album, 'Machination', later in the year. They also contributed a track to the Dischord-released benefit compilation 'State of the Union'. A further EP, the six-song 'The Orafying Mysticle of...Ignition', appeared in early 1990, but spelled the end of the group. Thomson went away to college in Wisconsin, where he fronted Circus Lupus, and would later form both Monorchid and Skull Kontrol; Alec MacKaye, meanwhile, spent the mid-'90s performing in The Warmers. [SOURCE: ALLMUSIC]
By the late 1980s, DC's punk underground had produced dozens of bands, but only a handful of the musicians were women. This was not a fair representation of the DC punk community, however, as there were many women active throughout the scene and this disparity had already become a much discussed topic within the ranks. The members of Fire Party were certainly aware of this situation, but while they were clear about their desire to play together, they tried to avoid the "all-girl band" tag that was so easily being handed out at that time.
Fire Party wanted their work to stand on its own, and although they released two excellent EPs on Dischord in 1988 and 1989 they found it difficult to escape the novelty aspect of their lineup, especially in the States. Fortunately, the band was able to make a number of trips to Europe, where they encountered audiences that seemed more interested in the music being played rather than who was playing it.
In 1996, Dischord released a retrospective CD that included both of their 12" EPs as well as the Peel Session radio show recorded in London while they were on tour in 1989. [SOURCE: DISCHORD RECORDS]
One Last Wish was a short-lived emo band from Washington, DC formed in May 1986 and split up in January 1987. The group featured 3/4 of Rites Of Spring (Guy Picciotto, Eddie Janney, and Brendan Canty) joined by former Faith / Embrace guitarist Michael Hampton. To make room for Hampton, Janney moved from his traditional position of guitarist to bassist. The band played 6 shows together, appeared on one compilation, and recorded an album. Following the recording, the group ceased practicing for reasons even the band appears to be unsure of, although Janney's alleged unhappiness playing bass is rumoured to have played some role. Dischord Records had expressed interest in the band, but with the group's split the record was shelved, as Dischord was attempting to shed its reputation for releasing posthumous albums. In 1999, Dischord finally issued the album, now titled "1986", on CD.
Around Easter 1986, Ian MacKaye and Jeff Nelson, former Minor Threat members, went to London and recorded a few experimental, post-hardcore songs for John Loder of Southern Studios. The trio decided to release a single under the festive name Egg Hunt with Dischord Records, the label MacKaye and Nelson founded and owned. Since MacKaye's band Embrace had broken up, he and Nelson decided to try turn the project into a bona fide band. After returning to D.C., the two recruited former Gray Matter members Geoff Turner and Steve Niles, but the band went nowhere. Nelson, Turner, and Niles then joined ex-Gray Matter guitarist Mark Haggerty to form Three, while MacKaye brought the emocore sound he had been mining in Embrace and Egg Hunt to Fugazi. [SOURCE: ALLMUSIC]
A formidable punk band of its time, Soul Side might be completely forgotten if it weren't for the fact that three-quarters of the band (along with Soul Side's producer, Eli Janney) went on to form Girls Against Boys. Soul Side was an important band on the 1980s Washington D.C. punk scene because it was the missing link between the lyrically advanced, but musically straightforward emo-core of bands like Rites of Spring and the sonic complexities of Fugazi. Comprised of Alexis Fleisig on drums, Bobby Sullivan on vocals, Scott McCloud on guitar, and Johnny Temple on bass, the band mixed politically conscious lyrics with a brand of punk that featured tempo changes, Sonic Youth-inspired guitar dissonance, and some very hushed moments. When Soul Side broke up, Janney, Fleisig, McCloud, and Temple turned their side project, Girls Against Boys, into a full-time band and packed up and moved to New York. Bobby Sullivan went on to join a number of bands, including Seven League Boots, Rain Like the Sound of Trains, and The Sevens. [SOURCE: ALLMUSIC]
Dag Nasty kept roaring D.C.-styled hardcore alive during the mid-'80s. Although the group was more accessible and melodic than Minor Threat, it never lost its bracing, blistering edge. Formed by former Minor Threat and Meatmen guitarist Brian Baker and ex-DYS vocalist Dave Smalley, Dag Nasty recorded their first album, 'Can I Say' (1986), with D.C.-punk guru Ian MacKaye assisting on the production. The following year, Smalley left the group; he was replaced by Peter Cortner, who added more pop elements to the band's sound. Dag Nasty moved from MacKaye's Dischord label to Giant in 1988, releasing their last album of the '80s, 'Field Day'. Along with former Big BoyChris Gates, Baker formed the metal band Junkyard in 1989, which released two records on Geffen before fading away. Dag Nasty came back together in 1992, releasing 'Four on the Floor' for the growing underground punk scene that was only a few short years from breaking into the mainstream. The response was enthusiastic, but the band stepped away from the business again. Ten years later, they reunited with the emo-rock call to arms 'Minority of One' and released it on Revelation Records. In 2010, Ian MacKaye released 'Dag with Shawn' -the original recordings from 'Can I Say' taken from a session with Dag Nasty's very first vocalist, Shawn Brown -on Dischord. [SOURCE: ALLMUSIC]
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 Turner (founder of WGNS cassette label and studio), and bassist Steve Niles, Gray Matter was inspired by British punk bands. The band rehearsed but rarely played out, and it wasn't until the summer of 1984 that they played their first important public gigs, finding alliance with bands like Rites of Spring and Beefeater. The group made their first recordings in November of 1984, going into Dischord's "house" studio, Inner Ear, with Minor Threat's Ian Mackaye assisting with production. The recordings, which revealed the influence of early-D.C. punk ("Gray Matter," "Caffeine Blues"), also warned about the dangers of punk nostalgia ("Retrospect") and featured a surprising cover of The Beatles' "I Am the Walrus" was the first hint of the band's strong pop streak. The record was issued by a small local label, then reissued by Dischord in 1990. The group hit their stride on the August 1985 recordings that became the 'Take It Back' EP. Crashing power chords mixed with pop melodies and rushing rhythms on "Chutes and Ladders" and the title cut, and the record stands as a landmark of the mid-'80s Dischord style. The record was cut during what came to be known as "Revolution Summer" in D.C., a period of punk solidarity that helped turn attentions away from personal concerns to political and social ones, paving the way for latter day heroes like Fugazi. Jon Kirschten replaced Haggerty in the fall of 1985, but the band had nearly run its' course, breaking up in the spring of the following year. Turner and Niles reunited with Haggerty in Three, which included former Minor Threat drummer (and Dischord co-founder) Jeff Nelson while Ferrando went on to play with Ignition. Turner also played with Senator Flux. The band reunited in late 1990, touring and recording 'Thog', a fine disc that showed the group's grasp of pop punk sensibilities but lacked their former power. They called it quits for good in 1993. [SOURCE: ALLMUSIC]
Marginal Man was a punk band from Washington, D.C., comprising guitarist Kenny Inouye, bassist Andre Lee, guitarist Peter Murray, drummer Mike Manos, and vocalist Steve Polcari. Formed in 1982 (after the dissolution of Artificial Peace, a band that included Murray, Manos, and Polcari), Marginal Man made their live debut in January of 1983 at D.C.'s legendary 9:30 club, opening for Faith and Minor Threat. After polishing a number of songs on-stage, they headed into Inner Ear Studios with Ian MacKaye and recorded 'Identity', which was released in early 1984. Somewhat surprisingly for a band in the tightly knit D.C. punk community, the band left the homegrown confines of Dischord for Enigma offshoot Gasatanka for the following year's 'Double Image'. A few years came and went until the band's third and final record, 'Marginal Man', saw the light of day -albeit posthumously- through Giant. The band broke up in 1988 before it was released. Throughout the years, Dischord has kept 'Identity' in print, but a German company "reissued" 'Double Image' without authorization in the late '90s; once Inouye received word of the bootleg, he went about making a legitimate CD issue of the record, and he re-released it in 2001 with improved sound and liner notes. [SOURCE: ALLMUSIC]
A short-lived project formed during Minor Threat's initial (and ultimately temporary) breakup, Skewbald/Grand Union kept singer Ian MacKaye and drummer Jeff Nelson together, with their curious compound name deriving from their differing opinions of what to call the band. MacKaye and Nelson first worked together in The Teen Idles before forming the seminal Minor Threat, which went on hiatus in September 1981 when guitarist Lyle Preslar left for college. MacKaye and Nelson got together with guitarist Eddie Janney -formerly of The Untouchables- and bassist John Falls. They recorded two songs for a self-titled single in November, but the next month, MacKaye decided to go on tour as a roadie for Black Flag. Skewbald/Grand Union fell by the wayside without ever having played a live gig, and its demise was ensured when Preslar returned and Minor Threat re-formed in April 1982. MacKaye would later go on to front Embrace and Fugazi, while Janney played in the Faith and the seminal emo band Rites of Spring, as well as the shorter-lived One Last Wish and Happy Go Licky. Nelson, for his part, moved on to gigs with Egg Hunt (again with MacKaye), 3, and the High Back Chairs. In 1992, Dischord released Skewbald/Grand Union's extremely scant recorded output as a self-titled, 7" vinyl single, and reissued it as a CD single in 1997. [SOURCE: ALLMUSIC]
The late Steven Jesse Bernstein was a Seattle performance poet who produced material full of alienation, decadence and despair. He was a clear inheritor of a visceral poetic tradition handed down from such forebears as William S. Burroughs and Charles Bukowski, and much of Bernstein's work drew upon his nightmarish experiences as a drug addict. In 1991, at the age of 40, Bernstein, who suffered from manic depression and had recently relapsed into alcoholism, committed suicide. He had been married three times and was survived by three children. At the time of his death, he had embarked upon a recording project that matched his readings with music by Steve Fisk, who is known for his samples and tape manipulations and for his work with such Northwestern groups as Nirvana, Soungarden and Beat Happening. The album the two men were working on, 'Prison', was released after Bernstein's death, in 1992. The effort featured Bernstein's tortured muse underpinned and augmented by all sorts of concrete sounds, beats and grooves. As very little of the album had been completed upon Bernstein's death, the album is very much a result of Fisk's vision. [SOURCE: ALLMUSIC]
