DISCLAIMER: I am slowly beginning to convert my old cassettes from my tape-trading days into digital form. These are live shows, demos, rehearsal tapes, etc. that I either taped personally or received through tape-trading. Nothing here is commercially available, I am not looking to make even one cent off of any of this. This is simply for sharing some of my collection with fans who may have never heard them. While I don't believe there are any legal issues with this - no different than videotaping a show and putting it on YouTube - out of respect for the bands, if any bandmembers do not want this content to be made available, please contact me at captain2man at yahoo dot com - or leave a comment - and I will be happy to oblige. As far as sound quality - hey - these were recorded a minimum of 20 years ago, and probably longer, on a handheld two-track recorder. It is what it is. If you're looking for pristine soundboard recordings, this isn't the place.
Over the course of a few short years, essentially between 1989 and 1996, Jawbreaker skyrocketed from underground DIY darlings to a band who found a new audience via the 'Dear You' record, released on Geffen in 1995. While 'Dear You' has gone down in history as this groundbreaking and highly influential album, I can tell you that at the time, many of the band's fans who had been with them since their earlier days were deeply disappointed and let down and, in many ways, felt betrayed. This, especially in light of the band's very aggressive anti-major label stance, documented on songs such as "Indictment" (short for the original title: "Scathing Indictment of the Pop Industry"): "So crazy it just might work / Then we'll quit our jobs / We could be the next group that you rob."
Although the whole major label debate has cooled down over time, especially in light of the way the record industry itself has had to change and adjust with growing technology, it was a very big deal at the time. A new debate would spark to life every time a band who had been on an independent label did something we all felt they shouldn't have. With Jawbreaker, it felt especially egregious because of their outspoken stance in favor of independent labels. On one hand, bands have the right to dictate their future and conduct their band business as they see fit. On the other hand, the indie bands that signed to majors, with a few notable exceptions, probably didn't get the experiences that they had hoped for. I'm assuming Jawbreaker's experience wasn't that much different from all the other bands who were the big fish in the small pond, only to then find themselves very small fish in a huge ocean. The fact that Jawbreaker broke up less than a year after 'Dear You' came out probably speaks for itself. I have yet to see the 2017 Jawbreaker documentary 'Don't Break Down', but I have to assume the issue is addressed.
To be honest, it took a little while for that first album to sink in - but once it grabbed hold, I was a fan for life - and as much as I do love the later records (and yes, grudgingly, I even kind of like 'Dear You' after all these years), 'Unfun' has always remained my favorite.
The first time I saw them was at ABC No Rio on August 31, 1992, with Hell No and 1.6 Band. It was an early ABC show for me (although not quite the first) and the first time seeing any of those bands, and I became a fan of all of them. The show was packed and sweaty, and even moreso because of the late-August heat in a space that had virtually no ventilation. After the show, I sat in the back of their van with my friends Frank and Aaron who did a zine called 'Kill the Messenger'. I sat quietly while they conducted the interview, but I remember being there and really feeling like I was in the presence of greatness and something that, as big as it was then, was about to get even bigger. I remember them asking about the major label issue, and one of them basically saying they would occasionally "do the lunch" - even at this stage they were getting that attention - but ultimately, their anti-major label stance was made pretty clear. I know that at least at one time, I had a tape of that show and if I ever do come across it, I'll post it.
As a huge fan of that album, it was always a little bit of a disappointment seeing them because even as early as 1992, they had stopped playing almost every song on it (only exceptions being "Fine Day" and "Want", albeit in an altered form). The song "Pack It Up" on the 1992 'Chesterfield King' 12" makes it clear you wouldn't be hearing those songs anymore: "Don't play Busy, Imaginary, Incomplete and Seethruskin / Drone and Gutless / Wound and Mean Guy / Equalized is overrated".
The show being presented here was from exactly nine months later - May 31, 1993 (Memorial Day) - with Hell No, Affirmative Action, Sleeper & Half Man opening up (I may have some of those sets as well - stay tuned). Jawbreaker had played CBGB two days before and the tour was titled the 'When It Pains It Roars' tour. You can tell from the setlist that, in the grand tradition of bands like Husker Du, their sets were about what they were doing right NOW, which meant, you might not hear a whole lot of songs you were familiar with. More than half of this set came from '24 Hour Revenge Therapy' - an album that would not be released until the following February.
SETLIST:
Do You Still Hate Me?
Jinx Removing
Donatello
Boxcar
Indictment
Chesterfield King
The Boat Dreams From The Hill
Outpatient
Fine Day
Sleep
Parabola
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