| ***Jawbreaker. An influential band, to say the least. Perhaps you've heard of them? Their legacy-four studio albums and a bunch of singles-has yielded several irrefutable facts: (1) a significant number of fans have grown up influenced by Blake Schwarzenbach's lyrics and Jawbreaker's (once) unique hybrid of emo, pop, Slintadelia and punk;
(2) an enormous number of bands have aped the Jawbreaker sound and approach, achieving greater success than Jawbreaker ever did (Blink 182 comes to mind) and
(3) post-Jawbreaker offshoot bands like Jets to Brazil are pretty hard to ignore. Jawbreaker's implosion followed the release of Dear You, a typical scenario that plays itself out so often after bands sign to the majors that someone really oughta copyright the script. It is equally unsurprising that the Jawbreaker legend has steadily grown, to the point where it's time to begin unearthing any remaining material from the band's vaults. Enter Blackball Recordings, the nascent corporation started by the band's drummer Adam Pfahler on behalf of the group. Blackball's debut release was taped live on April 30, 1996, an unforgettable Jawbreaker show at the Warfield in San Francisco featuring three previously unreleased songs. Some time next year, the label will get together a collection of singles, compilation tracks and demos for vinyl and CD issue. Expect further mass anticipation for these recordings, and more acclaim than the band ever got when actually alive and kicking. |
