Drive Like Jehu
Drive Like Jehu was an American post-hardcore band from San Diego active from 1990 to 1995. It was formed by rhythm guitarist and vocalist Rick Froberg and lead guitarist John Reis, ex-members of Pitchfork, along with bassist Mike Kennedy and drummer Mark Trombino, both from Night Soil Man, after their two bands disbanded in 1990. Drive Like Jehu's music was characterized by passionate singing, unusual song structure, indirect melodic themes, intricate guitar playing, and calculated use of tension, resulting in a distinctive sound amongst other post-hardcore acts and helped to catalyze the evolution of hardcore punk into emo.[1]
This article is about the band. For their debut album, see Drive Like Jehu (album).
Drive Like Jehu
San Diego, California, United States
1990–1995, 2014–2016
- Chris Bratton
- Rick Froberg
- Mike Kennedy
- John Reis
- Mark Trombino
After releasing their eponymous debut in 1991 through local record labels Cargo Music and Headhunter Records, Drive Like Jehu signed to major label Interscope Records along with Reis' other band Rocket from the Crypt. Their second album, 1994's Yank Crime, gained a cult following, but the group disbanded shortly afterward.[1] Reis continued with Rocket from the Crypt and Trombino became a successful record producer and audio engineer, while Froberg and Kennedy pursued careers outside of music.[1] In 1999, Reis and Froberg began playing together again in Hot Snakes, which was active from 1999 to 2005 and again from 2011 to present. Reis also re-released Yank Crime through his Swami Records label.[1]
History[edit]
Formation and debut album[edit]
Prior to forming Drive Like Jehu, vocalist Rick Froberg and guitarist John Reis had played together in Pitchfork from 1986 to 1990,[1][4] while bassist Mike Kennedy and drummer Mark Trombino played in Night Soil Man from 1987 to 1990.[5] Both bands performed several times together and respected each other.[6] Pitchfork disbanded due to creative differences and their original bassist, Don Ankrom, relocating to San Francisco; shortly afterwards Night Soil Man broke up as well for undisclosed personal reasons.[7] John Reis began hanging out with Kennedy and discovered their mutual admiration for Richmond, Virginia punk band Honor Role.[8] Honor Role guitarist Pen Rollings influenced Reis deeply because his style was "very soulful" and had "personality" despite being a punk guitarist. Thus, he started playing guitar alone for many hours, trying to "merge himself" with the instrument.[9] In 1990, Reis simultaneously formed the "self-proclaimed party band" Rocket from the Crypt and, around one month later, he recruited Froberg (who was also an Honor Role fan), Kennedy and drummer Chris Bratton to form Drive Like Jehu in August 1990. They had around five songs finished but the relationship with Bratton "didn't work out" and he was replaced by former Night Soil Man drummer Mark Trombino.[1][10] The band's name was derived from the biblical story of Jehu in the Books of Kings:[1]
Musical style, influences and legacy[edit]
Drive Like Jehu's music is often classified as punk,[22] post-hardcore, and emo.[1][4][12][14] Their initial biggest influence was punk band Honor Role, particularly its guitarist Pen Rollings.[23] Other influences included Mission of Burma, the Gories,[24] Bastro, Slint, Sonic Youth, the Wipers, and krautrock bands such as Neu![25] Steve Huey of Allmusic calls them "arguably the most progressive of the leading post-hardcore bands: their lengthy, multisectioned compositions were filled with odd time signatures, orchestrated builds and releases, elliptical melodies, and other twists and turns that built on the innovations of the Dischord label. The result was one of the most distinctive and ferocious sounds in the loosely defined post-hardcore movement."[1]
Next to contemporaries such as Fugazi and Quicksand, Drive Like Jehu was sometimes overlooked and their music was sometimes difficult for critics to place in a broader context.[1] According to Huey, the band was influential to the development of emo even though the style's later sound was quite different from Drive Like Jehu's: "The term 'emo' hadn't yet come into wider use, and while Drive Like Jehu didn't much resemble the sound that word would later come to signify, they exerted a powerful pull on its development. Moreover, they did fit the earlier definition of emo: challenging, intricate guitar rock rooted in hardcore and performed with blistering intensity, especially the frenzied vocals."[1] Allmusic's Ned Raggett also commented on the emo connection in his review of Yank Crime: "Perhaps even more than the debut, Yank Crime solidified Drive Like Jehu's reputation as kings of emo. While use of that term rapidly degenerated to apply to sappy miserableness by the decade's end, here the quartet capture its original sense: wired, frenetic, screaming passion, as first semi-created by the likes of Rites of Spring."[14] Brendan Reid of Pitchfork Media also notes that "It's often easy to forget that DLJ were considered emo in their day; Froberg's howls of 'Ready, ready to let you in!' on 'Super Unison' seem like a sick parody of stylish vulnerability. Then the song mutates into a gorgeous, snare-drum rolling open sea, and everything you've ever liked (and still like) about this genre in its purest form comes flooding back."[4]
At the Drive-In frontman Cedric Bixler-Zavala stated that "there would be no Relationship of Command without Drive Like Jehu."[26] He declared: "I remember doing a lot of English press and people being like, 'We think you guys are exotic, the names of the songs and flannel and look is exotic.' I definitely knew what school we came from, and that people like Hot Snakes and Drive Like Jehu were our strongest influences, but they weren’t exactly huge in Europe."[27] Isaac Brock of the indie rock band Modest Mouse said in 2007: "I love [Drive Like] Jehu. Jehu is one of my favorite all-time bands actually."[28] Deftones covered their song "Caress" on their 2011 cover album.[29] Brian Cook, bassist for the metalcore band Botch, stated that “Drive Like Jehu was a huge influence on Botch; their writing approach definitely mirrored what we did in terms of banging things out till we had a song."[30] British hardcore punk group Gallows were also inspired by them and Laurent Barnard singled out John Reis as one of his five favorite guitarists.[31][32] The Blood Brothers vocalist Jordan Blilie described Rick Froberg's lyrics in the band as "equal parts perplexing and relatable" and called his voice "one of my all-time favorites". He added that the early guitar playing of his own group can be mostly traced back to Jehu.[33] Other artists who have cited them as an influence or expressed admiration for their work are Thursday,[34] Jim Adkins of Jimmy Eat World,[35] Justin Pearson of The Locust,[36][37] Ben Weinman of The Dillinger Escape Plan,[38] J. Clark of Pretty Girls Make Graves,[39] Violent Soho,[40][41] Unbroken,[42] Akimbo and Sandrider,[43][44][45] KEN Mode,[46] METZ,[47][48] Matthew Bajda of Funeral Diner,[49] Bryan Giles of Red Fang,[50] Steven Roche of Off Minor[51] and Genghis Tron.[52] Bay Area hardcore band Super Unison named itself after the Drive Like Jehu song.
Drive Like Jehu discography
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