The Emo Velvet Underground: The Legacy of Cap’n Jazz

Something strange has been happening in the seedy underbelly of music journalism. Trend pieces featured on NPR have been whispering about an “emo revival.” Hipper-than-thou sites like Pitchfork have been squashing their beef with bands that cite The Get Up Kids as an influence. Even BuzzFeed took time away from writing hard-hitting stories like “The Top 10 Funniest Breaking Bad Gifs” and “Grumpy Cat Has The Worst Day At Disneyland Ever” to compose a list of essential emo artists. It seems that the genre is losing the guyliner-tinged stigma that was wrongly attached to it during the heyday of Hawthorne Heights and My Chemical Romance.

Though the genre originally described bands that combined the ferocity of punk and the musicianship of indie-rock, the word “emo” was eventually co-opted by the music press to describe overly polished mall-punk bands. However, the foundation that Fugazi and Sunny Day Real Estate laid in the early 90’s never went away during emo’s hair metal phase.

Snowing, My Heart To Joy, and Lemuria all put out fantastic albums while the dudes in Fall Out Boy were collaborating with Jay Z . While bands true to the genre’s roots have always been quietly releasing records and playing shows in basements, the quality of artists picking up guitars in the name of emo is at an all time high and people are starting to notice

It’s great that albums like Whenever, If Ever and Celebration Rock are getting the attention they deserve, but it’s also important to remember where the genre came from. It’s impossible to discuss the current crop of emo bands and the genre’s pioneers without mentioning the impact of Chicago’s Cap’n Jazz.

The success of Cap’n Jazz seems almost accidental. While they were active, their popularity was highly localized and short-lived. The lyrics to their first and only full-length were composed by a 19-year-old tripping on mushrooms at a bonfire. On top of that, the band only existed for about three years before breaking up in the middle of their first cross-country tour. Despite all of this working against them, critics and fans alike have praised the band for being “The Emo Velvet Underground.”

The band got its start in 1991 when guitarist Victor Villareal and vocalist Tim Kinsella met in the parking lot that Villareal skateboarded in. The two became friends and started playing thrash metal songs with Kinsella’s younger brother, Mike on drums. Seeing as the band was made up of high schoolers, they called themselves Toejam.

After attending a few local VFW shows, the band began to take things a bit more seriously. In 1992, bassist Sam Zurick joined the group and they became known as Cap’n Jazz. The band released a few EPs and splits on local indie labels and toured around the Midwest before breaking up in the summer of 1993.

The break up was short-lived and Cap’n Jazz reunited in 1994, this time with Davey Von Bohlen on rhythm guitar. The band began writing for what would become their first full-length; Burritos, Inspiration Point, Fork Balloon Sports, Cards in the Spokes, Automatic Biographies, Kites, Kung Fu, Trophies, Banana Peels We’ve Slipped on and Egg Shells We’ve Tippy-Toed Over (or Schmap’n Schmazz to fans who actually wanted to use the album’s title in conversation).

The album opens with the song “Little League.” The track’s jarring tempo changes, sugary melodies, and frenetic guitar work encapsulate why the band has maintained such a devoted fan base.

On “Oh, Messy Life,” Villareal and Von Bohlen’s guitars clash and interlock at seemingly random intervals while the band’s rhythm section holds everything together. “Basil’s Kite’s” esoteric lyrics are more about the way Tim shouts them than what’s actually being shouted. The band’s unorthodox, but melodic riffs are the star of the show until they pull a complete 180, toning everything down except a blaring French horn, then lurching back into the song’s stomping groove.

Upon its release in 1995, Schmap’n Schmazz quickly sold out of its first pressing and the band decided to tour to push the record’s popularity further. However, after a show in Little Rock, Arkansas, Villareal suffered a non-lethal overdose and had to be rushed to the hospital. This derailed the rest of the shows the band had lined up and they decided to call it quits in the summer of 1995.

Though Cap’n Jazz were active for a very short time and broke up just when they were beginning to become popular, Schmap’n Scmazz has gained a cult following in the indie and emo scenes.

The album helped legitimize the genre, transforming emo from a little-known punk subgenre into something all its own, melding the passion, emotion, and ethics of punk with the instrumental refinement of the early 90’s indie-rock scene.

The band’s style of instrumentation can be heard in bands old and new. Late 90’s bands like Jimmy Eat World, The Get Up Kids, and Mineral took Cap’n Jazz’ jangly guitar riffs and applied them to more pop-oriented songs. Philadelphia’s Algernon Cadwallader were a direct descendent of Cap’n Jazz. Their 2009 album, Some Kind Of Cadwallader, is inspired by the band’s overly complex, twinkly guitar parts, nonsensical lyrics, and passionate, nasally vocals.

Artists currently active in the emo scene like Dads combine their kinetic guitar work and math-rock rhythms with more straightforward, accessible song structures that serve as a gateway drug to Cap’n Jazz’ brand of off-kilter weirdness. Other bands like The World Is A Beautiful Place and I Am No Longer Afraid to Die add post-rock builds and baroque instrumentation to the band’s blueprint of raw vocals and twinkly arpeggios to create strikingly gorgeous melodies.

Since the dissolution of Cap’n Jazz, its members have stayed busy. Von Bohlen played in The Promise Ring and Maritime. Zurick and The Kinsella brothers collaborated on the chaotic art-rock of Joan Of Arc and Owls. Mike played in American Football, another emo project whose influence nearly eclipses  that of Cap’n Jazz. He also continues to write songs in Owen, his sleepy, indie-folk project and drums for the energetic punk outfit Their/They’re/There. Cap’n Jazz got together for a brief reunion tour in 2010, performing for old fans who were there to see the band during their basement days, as well as the scores of new ones they’ve gained since.

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