Bells at Cake Shop, photo by Caspar Newbolt

BELLS (mems Jawbox/Oxford Collapse) will play Bruar Falls on July 30th as part of a "rock and roil CRAB BOIL" at the venue. The show, headlined by Mcdonalds (who you can read more about here), will also feature a solo appearance from Bells member/cellist Gordon Withers. Gordon, who you may know for his cello Jawbox covers, now also plays with with J. Robbins in Office of Future Plans and with Zac Barocas in BELLS. Moonmen On The Moon, Man are also on the Bruar Falls bill which features a meal as described in the name of the show.

Speaking of Jawbox, Dischord remastered and reissued two singles at the end of May. Speaking of Dischord, Title Tracks are on tour and in NYC this weekend.

Office of Future Plans has three shows coming up, but still none in NY. They're listed below.

BELLS released their debut There Are Crashes EP last year, and are currently writing new material. Stream that EP and the Gordon Withers Jawbox covers LP below.

Continue reading "Jawbox-related bands playing shows (BELLS, Gordon Withers, Office of Future Plans, Title Tracks)"

Blake Schwarzenbach of Jawbreaker's new band Forgetters play Cake Shop tonight (9/10). It's one of their many upcoming shows, and while that's already a good enough reason to head to the Manhattan venue, there's also another: BELLS≥ play as direct support in what will be their first show ever.

So who the hell is BELLS≥? Zac Barocas of Jawbox sits in behind the kit, with Adam Rizer (Oxford Collapse) on bass, and Chris Ernst/Steve Shodin on guitars. The instrumental band has a new LP due in October entitled There are Crashers (not sure what label, but that's it pictured above).

One member of Jawbreaker. One member of Jawbox. Together again (for one night at least).

It's one of two shows that BELLS≥, no relation to BEAK>, will play this weekend. The second is Saturday in Maryland, and features yet another new Jaw-member band on the bill...

"If you're not familiar with them yet, OFFICE OF FUTURE PLANS is the new band from J ROBBINS (of such legendary bands as Government Issue, Jawbox and Burning Airlines). OOFP has been playing around the Baltimore/D.C. area for the past year or so, and has recently been in the studio working on their debut record. This will be the band's second-to-last show of 2010 so that J can focus on the upcoming Government Issue reunion and the band can finish recording. Don't miss this chance to see them!"

That chance to see them, and BELLS≥, takes place at Windup Space in Baltimore

Videos and more info below...

Continue reading "BELLS≥ & Office of Future Plans are new bands w/ Jawbox members (that are both playing shows this weekend) "

by BBG

"In the course of talking about the reissue I brought up the idea of playing some shows because I was like well look, if we were ever going to do this, if we were ever going to play again, you know, now would be the time to do it." - J Robbins

Jawbox was one of a few who defined the sound of the 90's underground. After releasing records on respected uber-indie Dischord, the band dropped their masterpiece For Your Own Special Sweetheart as their major label debut for Atlantic. Razor sharp post-hardcore riffage collided with tense emotional songwriting to create one of the greatest, yet most unsung LPs of the era. The band followed up Sweetheart with a self-titled LP before calling it quits in 1997.

Recently Jawbox celebrated reissued Sweetheart and celebrated with a performance on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. We cornered vocalist/guitarist J Robbins before that performance to talk about the band, their future, his production work, and the Baltimore/DC music scene...

Continue reading "an interview with J. Robbins of Jawbox"

"JAWBOX IS REUNITING ON THE SHOW TONIGHT! Last week, this iconic 90's post-hardcore band re-released their classic album For Your Own Special Sweetheart. Tonight, they perform together again for the first time since 1997! They are not touring or performing anywhere else - THIS IS IT!" - Jimmy Fallon (actually Sara Schaefer)

As previously mentioned, Jawbox played four songs during an early "rehearsal", and then played "Savory" agan on the actual show last night (12/8). You can tell the above picture was taken during rehearsal because Fred Armisen isn't sitting on the stage next to his Trenchmouth bandmates and his ThunderAnt bandmate Carrie Brownstein of Sleater Kinney (like they were during the actual show) (Trenchmouth and Jawbox played shows together back in the day). Two videos from rehearsal and the one from the actual show, below...

Continue reading "Jawbox played Fallon - 'Savory' & 2 videos from rehearsal"

In addition to all the other stuff going on tonight (12/8), there are at least two noteworthy music-related events airing on TV.

Jawbox plays their ONLY reunion performance on the Jimmy Fallon show. This morning they held a private rehearsal show in the Fallon studios. Those in attendance got four songs: "ff=66", "68", "savory" and "Desert Sea".

Neko Case is TCM's guest programmer today.

A Woody Allen fan, Case chooses Radio Days (1987) as her favorite Allen film with its "celebration of the entertainment industry." Elia Kazan's A Face in the Crowd (1957) remains "shocking" to her in its satire of the corruptive power of television. She admires Orson Welles ("a force of nature") and Joseph Cot- ten ("the foxy Everyman") in Carol Reed's The Third Man (1949). The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945) casts a spell on her with its Oscar Wilde dialogue and appeal to "art-history nerds." A bonus in Case's selections is a collection of Dogville shorts from the 1930s.

Video of Neko performing on Letterman, below...

Continue reading "Jawbox played 4 songs @ Fallon rehearsal, Neko Case shows her favorite movies on TV tonight too "

by Black Bubblegum

Pioneering Washington, D.C.-based rock band Jawbox will make its first appearance of any kind in 12 years when it performs Dec. 8 on NBC's "Late Night With Jimmy Fallon."

For now, there are no concrete plans for additional shows from Jawbox, who along with Fugazi and Shudder To Think was the third pillar of the hugely influential DC hardcore scene in the early 1990s....

As a precursor to the "Late Night" performance, Jawbox will on Nov. 23 reissue its 1994 major-label debut, "For Your Own Special Sweetheart," on Coletta and Barbot's own Desoto Records label, complete with the three bonus tracks from the "Savory +3" EP: "68,""L'il Shaver" and a cover of the Big Boys' "Sound on Sound." [Billboard]

Jawbox was literally one of my favorite bands of the era, both live (Jawbox/Jawbreaker tour was particularly amazing) and on record (For Your Own Special Sweetheart is a certified classic) . It's kind of odd to think of Jawbox reuniting for Jimmy Fallon (WTF), but if it leads to a show or two, I am definitely down.

J Robbins went on to join Burning Airlines, Channels and be a producer for various bands including Clutch, Modern Life Is War, Jets to Brazil, Against Me!, The Promise Ring, and many others. Robbins's son Callum was born with Spinal Muscular Atrophy, and has been the subject of many benefit shows that have included reunions of Snapcase, The Dismemberment Plan, and others.

Continue reading "Jawbox reuniting... for Jimmy Fallon TV appearance"