This morning, I broke the news that Jawbox would be reuniting on a late-night TV show to be named later. It got named! This all set off a flurry of Tweets and blog posts: who knew so many people were pining for mid-’90s posthardcore? “This is all rather funny, isn’t it?” Jawbox singer-guitarist J. Robbins wrote in an e-mail today. “We’ve been kicking the reunion idea around for a while, not particularly seriously, since we decided to do the ‘Sweetheart’ reissue,” he wrote.  “When the Fallon opportunity came up, I think everyone looked at it this way:
1. it can be sort of a “diet reunion” – any time we’ve discussed playing again, we all agree that we’d want to be as good a band as we were 12 years ago. But 12 years ago, we could afford total immersion: we all lived together, rehearsed 3 times a week for 4 hours at a stretch and toured 6 – 8 months out of the year. It’s much easier to imagine doing justice to one song for one day than it is to imagine pulling off a full set and tour, particularly with [drummer] Zach [Barocas] being in NY and with the family and work commitments that we have. Maybe this will adequately scratch the reunion itch for those of us who are feeling it.
2. it’s such a weird idea, such an unlikely opportunity, why wouldn’t we do it?”

As to a reunion beyond the confines of late-night television, Robbins wrote: “I don’t think that doing the Jimmy Fallon show would really be a likely catalyst for that sort of thing. Or would it? I think we are all just playing this by ear and we’ll see how much fun we have. But it’s still unlikely given our number one condition, which is not to suck if we got onto a real stage in a room with people who give a shit about seeing us play. I think we’re all a bit taken aback that anyone is paying attention.”

A few days before all this, I spoke with Robbins about the upcoming reissue of For Your Own Special Sweetheart, Jawbox’s 1994 major-label debut.

Read More “Jawbox’s J. Robbins on the For Your Own Special Sweetheart Reissue” »

Last Saturday, May 2, Jon Blank of Rockville, MD passed away of a suspected drug overdose. Blank was the bassist in Rezin and, most recently, Scott “Wino” Weinrich’s latest project; he played on Wino’s new album Punctuated Equilibrium and is pictured above playing with Wino at the 9:30 Club this past February. Blank was the youngest member of the Wino band and – at least judging from that one show I was able to see – his stage presence, like his playing, was hyperactive and entertaining. He will be missed.

Statements from Blank’s sister and Wino’s label, Southern Lord, are available.

Medications: When Medications performed at Fort Reno a few years back, I told drummer/bassist Chad Molter that I thought his band’s new songs sounded sort of like mid-’70s Fleetwood Mac, in a good way. I’m not sure he really liked hearing that, though. At any rate, when they played Friday, at this funky art-space/theater, the new songs were a bit more heavier and more progressive. So, maybe more like Peter Green-era Fleetwood Mac?

Earthless w/ J Mascis: The San Diego-based psych-rock trio, augmented here by Dinosaur Jr guitarist J. Mascis, basically improvised a 30-minute space-rock crescendo that never stopped, it just got louder and louder.

Metallica: Metallica is pretty much the last of the superhuman mega-bands, at least in my opinion. Any personal obligations that they might have as grown men with families seem totally secondary to their lives as rock stars. Metallica will always go the extra mile for rock. Like, if you’re sick and dying and you love Metallica, I feel like there’s still a chance they would show up in your hospital room and surprise you with an autographed guitar. Not a lot of bands will do that anymore, certainly not a lot of the bands playing at SXSW. But the line was long–all the way around the block–so I skipped the show.
Read More “SXSW Recap: Friday” »

This show was billed as “3 Generations of D.C. Stoner Doom,” which was a nice marketing gimmick and a pretty cool way to introduce old fans of Scott Weinrich’s various bands to a couple newer bands. If Wino (above) was the first generation, I’m solidly of the third, and as such I was at this show mostly to see Salome (below), the youngest, loudest, and most abrasive of the bunch by far. Wino and King Giant put on solid sets of melodic stoner rock, but Salome’s gloomy rumble is definitely much more up my alley. Melody? Who needs that?

So it was nice to see that all three bands were pretty well-received, and by the time Wino wrapped up his set the club was loosely filled on the ground floor with many apparently die-hard hometown fans. Not bad for a show that was thrown together completely at the last minute. And it was an early show, so the first generation could get to bed and the third could still go out and party. (I suppose in that respect I’m much less solidly of the third generation.)

Here’s a bunch of photos.

Maryland-based guitarist Scott “Wino” Weinrich is credited as one of the most influential figures in stoner rock and doom metal, having been on the scene for three decades and heading up bands like The Obsessed and Saint Vitus. He’s back with a solo album and a new band, as far as I can tell simply called “Wino,” making its live debut at the 9:30 Club tomorrow evening. It’s an early show – doors at 6, show at 7.

Worth getting there early, too, since Virginia doom metal titans Salome (who are making waves these days, having been picked up for the first installment of Pitchfork’s metal series in NYC, as well as the monstrous Scion Rock Fest in Atlanta) are opening alongside stoner rockers King Giant.

photo courtesy Earsplit PR