Hello The Used? It's Me Drive Like Jehu - Screamo Born

Or maybe this post should be titled "Hello, Bert? It's me, John Reis". Whatever the title of this post, hardcore and punk underwent an amazing transformation in 1991. Emo, Screamo, Post-Hardcore owe a tremendous debt to this band. Drive Like Jehu released their self-titled debut on Headhunter Records. Punk rock would never be the same.

In retrospect, it's hard to not call this a punk rock supergroup. With this pedigree, it's no wonder this band and specifically, this album would have such wide influence. Check out three of the members:

John Reis (aka. Speedo): Rocket From The Crypt, Hot Snakes, Pitchfork, The Night Marchers, Owner Swami Records and all-around punk rock hero.

Rick Froberg: Hot Snakes, Obits and Chapter 1 of "Screamo 101: A Lesson in Vocals". (note: can't wait for the Obits debut next year on Sub Pop!!!)

Mark Trombino: Night Soil Man, Aminiature, punk rock producer to the stars...Jimmy Eat World, Finch, Silverstein, Blink-182.

A digression: In the early 90's the San Diego alternative scene was loaded! But the three bands that in my opinion had a large influence on the screamo and hardcore of today are these peers of DLJ...Night Soil Man, Three Mile Pilot and Truman's Water. Each, known for their own brand of sonic dissonance, they each shaped the future of punk, and rock in general, with their aggressive, dirty, yet technical music.

Back to our featured artist. Drive Like Jehu. The complexity of this music, to this day, leaves me awestruck. It's beautiful, rich, well thought out and well executed. "Caress" starts the album off. It builds to crescendo and while other tracks meander from the beautiful to the extreme, "Caress" is relentless from beginning to end. Next up is quick blast "Spikes To You". The shortest song on the album, but by no means the simplest. How do you describe the guitar sound of Drive Like Jehu? It's "off" in a way, no disrespect, it's what makes it amazing. It's almost like they use their dueling guitar lines to create some sort of mismatched harmony. It works perfectly on "Spikes". John Reis leads the way on "Step on Chameleon", a bit of a slower, sludgy track with those patented overlaying guitars. "Step on Chameleon" features some nice Rocket From The Crypt harmony and is a personal fave. "O Pencil Sharp" is a nine minute epic that captures the entire Drive Like Jehu experience. It slowly builds into a single guitar led melody and then into a mid-paced, somewhat somber progression. At around the 5 minute mark, the deluge that is Drive Like Jehu starts. Manic, pulsing, strained solos, complex percussion, it's got it all. As quickly as the deluge starts, you wander back into the darkness that began the track... and so it ends. It's a track like that that often can be the measurement of a band, but how well they can take the song from record to the stage is the real test. From personal experience, Drive Like Jehu were able to precisely capture "O Pencil Sharp" note for tenuous note. "Atom Jack" would fit in quite well amongst the Emo and Screamo of today and is probably the most structured of all the tracks. "If It Kills You" is a study in tonal instability. The pain sensed in Rick's voice is palpable but ultimately outdone by the guitar and bass work on this post-hardcore forebear. This track, along with a few others, feels at times like an instrumental. It wanders off in a direction for a few minutes and it's a wonderful journey. "Good Luck In Jail" is simply a really cool punk / alternative rock song. It's Melvins-esque and it's a treat! "Turn It Off" could have easily been written in 2006 and may well have influence outside of punk (Killers, Modest Mouse, etc.). This classic, noisy album wraps up with "Future Home of Stucco Monstrosity". "Wall of Sound" jumps to mind as a simple way to sum up this tune and probably is a fitting description for the work as a whole.

I know there are Drive Like Jehu fans out there that count this record as one of the best of the punk or hardcore genre, count me amongst that group!

There was a song in the 80's called "Video Killed The Radio Star". Sadly, we could probably say "Major Label Killed the Punk Rock Star" for this band and bunches of others. While there are always many contributing factors to a bands finish, in this particular case, I can't help but wonder what would have happened if Drive Like Jehu had stayed on some small, high quality San Diego indie label? I'd like to think that "Yank Crime" would be just the second in a long line future masterpieces! But hey, good news for all of us, the three main men continue to release and influence a tremendous amount of good quality, true to themselves punk.