Certain Distant Suns is an

alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

band that was present on the

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music scene of the early 1990s.

1989–1991

Justin Mroz (vocals, guitar) and Lance Stewart (bass, vocals) formed Certain Distant Suns in 1989 in

Fox Lake, Illinois Fox Lake is a village in Lake County, Illinois and Burton Township, McHenry County, Illinois, United States. Fox Lake is a northwestern Chicago suburb. The population was 10,978 at the 2020 census. It is located 50 miles north of Chicago. H ...

. The duo made early recordings with producer

Dave Trumfio David Trumfio (born August 16, 1968) is an American record producer, mixer, engineer and musician, best known for his production work with artists such as Wilco and his recordings with his own band The Pulsars. Production work Trumfio grew up ...

, and used keyboards & sequencers to back up their live performances at Chicago venues like Medusa’s -- the nightclub once located at School & Sheffield. Justin later recruited his cousin Jared Mroz (drums) and added guitarists Dan Zigmund and Kerry Finerty.

1992–1997

Certain Distant Suns played locally in Chicago before self-releasing the EP ''Huge''. The follow-up EP, ''Dogrocket'', featured the singles "Bitter", "Talk" and "Snowfall At The Most Curious Times", received a good deal of college & alternative rock airplay, and brought the band to the height of their popularity. Certain Distant Sunsat

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Both of these EPs were collected, along with extra tracks, on the 1994 full-length ''Happy on the Inside'', released by Warner subsidiary Giant Records. In reviewing the album, ''

CMJ New Music Report CMJ Holdings Corp. is a music events, online media company and a distributor of up and coming music CDs, originally founded in 1978, which ran a website, hosted an annual festival in New York City, and published two magazines, ''CMJ New Music ...

'' said the band "dance around categorization like a cat across a bed of hot coals".''Happy on the Inside'' review, ''

'', February 1995, p. 32.
Google Books link
The group was dropped by Giant in 1996 as a result of label restructuring, and the group's membership changed as a result.
''

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'', September 26, 1997. Mroz continued with a new lineup (Jason Lee on guitar and keyboards, Brian Skaggs on bass, and Jon Hemmer on drums. The band's final release was the ''Boss Nova'' EP, issued in 1996.

Discography

Cassettes

*Crushed (1990) *Huge e.p. (1992)

CDs

*''Huge'' e.p. (1992) *''Dogrocket'' e.p. (1993) *''Happy On The Inside'' (

Giant In folklore, giants (from Ancient Greek: ''wiktionary:gigas, gigas'', cognate wiktionary:giga-, giga-) are beings of humanoid appearance, but are at times prodigious in size and strength or bear an otherwise notable appearance. The word ''gia ...

, 1994) *''Boss Nova'' (1996)

Singles

*"Miserable" / "The One" (1989) *"Bitter" (1994)

References

{{Authority control Alternative rock groups from Chicago Musical groups established in 1989