Chisel was an American punk rock band from the United States from 1990 through 1997. In that time, the group released two full-length albums and a compilation of early recordings.

1990-1995: Early years

Chisel began in 1990 on the campus of the

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic university, Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend, Indiana, South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin fo ...

, when classmates

Ted Leo Theodore Francis Leo is an American singer and musician. He is the frontman and lead guitarist of the rock group Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, and in 2013, he and Aimee Mann formed the indie rock duo The Both. Early life Born in South Bend, In ...

(

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected string ...

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or witho ...

), Chris Infante (

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gu ...

), and John Dugan (

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair of matching drumsticks ...

) began practicing in the basement of a campus

dormitory A dormitory (originated from the Latin word ''dormitorium'', often abbreviated to dorm) is a building primarily providing sleeping and residential quarters for large numbers of people such as boarding school, high school, college or university ...

. Leo had played punk shows with bands such as Animal Crackers in New York's all-ages scene and Dugan had drummed with the

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

area punk act Indian Summer from the age of fifteen. The band quickly went from playing a covers set (

Wire Overhead power cabling. The conductor consists of seven strands of steel (centre, high tensile strength), surrounded by four outer layers of aluminium (high conductivity). Sample diameter 40 mm A wire is a flexible strand of metal. Wire is co ...

, Misfits,

Buzzcocks Buzzcocks are an English punk rock band formed in Bolton, England in 1976 by singer-songwriter-guitarist Pete Shelley and singer-songwriter Howard Devoto. They are regarded as a seminal influence on the Manchester music scene, the independe ...

Mission of Burma Mission of Burma was an American post-punk band from Boston, Massachusetts. The group formed in 1979 with Roger Miller on guitar, Clint Conley on bass, Peter Prescott on drums, and Martin Swope contributing audiotape manipulation and acting as ...

) to playing original songs written by Leo. Chisel began to perform at various college venues in the

Midwest The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of the United States. ...

and

Northeast The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sepa ...

, visiting clubs such as D.C. Space in Washington and

ABC No Rio ABC No Rio is a collectively-run non-profit arts organization on New York City's Lower East Side. It was founded in 1980 in a squat at 156 Rivington Street, following the eviction of the 1979-80 Real Estate Show. The centre featured an art ga ...

in New York City. In 1991, the band released its first single, "Swamp Fox/Spike" b/w "Listen", on Assembly Records, and followed it up with appearances on compilations released by college radio stations WVFI in

Notre Dame, Indiana Notre Dame is a census-designated place and unincorporated community north of the city of South Bend in St. Joseph County, in the U.S. state of Indiana. It includes the campuses of three colleges: the University of Notre Dame, Saint Mary' ...

and WPRB in

Princeton, New Jersey Princeton is a municipality with a borough form of government in Mercer County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It was established on January 1, 2013, through the consolidation of the Borough of Princeton and Princeton Township, both of whi ...

. In the same year, they recorded a demo tape in Notre Dame's Stanford Hall. In 1992, Infante graduated from college and was replaced on bass by Chris Norborg, who also provided the backing vocal harmonies that soon became integral to Chisel's sound. It was during this period that the band began to change its style from traditional

emo Emo is a rock music genre characterized by emotional, often confessional lyrics. It emerged as a style of and hardcore punk from the Washington D.C. hardcore punk scene, where it was known as emotional hardcore or emocore and pioneered b ...

-influenced

pop punk Pop punk (or punk pop) is a rock music genre that combines elements of punk rock with power pop or pop. It is defined for its emphasis on classic pop songcraft, as well as adolescent and anti- suburbia themes, and is distinguished from other p ...

that was inspired by contemporaries in Washington, D.C., to more of a mod-influenced band in the vein of the

Small Faces Small Faces were an English rock band from London, founded in 1965. The group originally consisted of Steve Marriott, Ronnie Lane, Kenney Jones and Jimmy Winston, with Ian McLagan replacing Winston as the band's keyboardist in 1966. The b ...

and

The Jam The Jam were an English mod revival/ punk rock band formed in 1972 at Sheerwater Secondary School in Woking, Surrey. They released 18 consecutive Top 40 singles in the United Kingdom, from their debut in 1977 to their break-up in December ...

. In 1994, the band members relocated to Washington where Dugan had been

intern An internship is a period of work experience offered by an organization for a limited period of time. Once confined to medical graduates, internship is used practice for a wide range of placements in businesses, non-profit organizations and gove ...

ing with Amnesty International.

1995 - 1997: 8 A.M. All Day

In 1995, Chisel issued an EP with

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York (state), New York; on the ea ...

Gern Blandsten Gern Blandsten Records is an independent record label based in Paramus, New Jersey. The label's acts have included The World/Inferno Friendship Society The World/Inferno Friendship Society (also referred to as World Inferno, or Inferno) was a ...

label, ''Nothing New,'' which included several new songs recorded with

Guy Picciotto Guy Charles Picciotto ( ) (born September 17, 1965) is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, musician, and producer from Washington, DC. He is best known as the guitarist and vocalist in Fugazi and Rites of Spring. Career Rites of Spring ...

Fugazi Fugazi (; ) is an American post-hardcore band that formed in Washington, D.C., in 1986. The band consists of guitarists and vocalists Ian MacKaye and Guy Picciotto, bassist Joe Lally, and drummer Brendan Canty. They are noted for their style-tr ...

in his home studio as well as recordings done the previous year in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

with

Tortoise Tortoises () are reptiles of the family Testudinidae of the order Testudines (Latin: ''tortoise''). Like other turtles, tortoises have a shell to protect from predation and other threats. The shell in tortoises is generally hard, and like ot ...

soundman Casey Rice. It was followed in 1996 by ''8 A.M. All Day,'' an album of all-new material recorded in the basement studio of

Velocity Girl Velocity Girl was an American indie rock band formed in 1989 in College Park, Maryland, and active in the Washington, D.C., area. The band released three albums before splitting up in 1996. History The band started as the duo of Kelly Rile ...

guitarist Archie Moore and produced by the band itself. By this time, Chisel was touring as a support act for bands like Fugazi, Velocity Girl,

Blonde Redhead Blonde Redhead is an American alternative rock band composed of Kazu Makino (vocals, keys/rhythm guitar) and twin brothers Simone and Amedeo Pace (drums/keys and lead guitar/bass/keys/vocals, respectively) that formed in New York City in 1993 ...

and Tuscadero. Following the release of ''8 A.M. All Day'', the band gained a growing following in the rock clubs of New York, Chicago, and Boston.

1997: Set You Free

For its next album, the band enlisted Nicolas Vernhes and his Rare Book Room studio in

Williamsburg, Brooklyn Williamsburg is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, bordered by Greenpoint to the north; Bedford–Stuyvesant to the south; Bushwick and East Williamsburg to the east; and the East River to the west. As of the 2020 Unit ...

to record brand new material. The band first recorded a single, "It's Alright, You're Okay", in the studio and a few months later booked Vernhes for 10 days. Within those ten days, the band tracked and mixed 16 songs. This new set of material found the band incorporating various

Britpop Britpop was a mid-1990s British-based music culture movement that emphasised Britishness. It produced brighter, catchier alternative rock, partly in reaction to the popularity of the darker lyrical themes of the US-led grunge music and to the ...

influences, horns,

Hammond organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert and first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding #Drawbars, drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, Hammond organs ...

, and thicker sonics into its sound. But the band also pared some pieces back to an almost minimalist rock aesthetic to push Leo's increasingly dark, personal lyrics to the fore. At the other end of the spectrum, Norborg contributed lead vocals to his compositions "The Unthinkable Is True," "Oh Dear Friends," and "Morley Timmons". The band released its second and final LP, ''Set You Free'', in mid-1997, and set off on a well-attended tour with Boston band

Karate (; ; Okinawan pronunciation: ) is a martial art developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It developed from the indigenous Ryukyuan martial arts (called , "hand"; ''tii'' in Okinawan) under the influence of Chinese martial arts, particularly Fuj ...

. Chisel played its last show on 16 May 1997, in

Knoxville, TN Knoxville is a city in and the county seat of Knox County in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 United States census, Knoxville's population was 190,740, making it the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Division and the state ...

at the end of its tour. Plans to tour the West Coast and

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti ...

were scrapped.

2022: Re-releases

On 14 March 2022, Chisel's digital discography was deleted from streaming services.

Numero Group The Numero Group is an archival record label that creates compilations of previously released music, reissues original albums, and creates album reconstructions from a variety of musical genres. The label, known as Numero, was founded in 2003 b ...

announced that were behind it and that they would be re-releasing the Chisel discography, starting with the "It's Alright, You're O.K." b/w "Guns of Meridian Hill" single and would later be ending with an expanded version of Set You Free. On May 10, Numero released an EP titled "All My Kin" featuring remastered versions of the title track and "Rip Off The Gift", both from Set You Free, and a previously unreleased live recording of "The Unthinkable is True". On July 12, the "Innocents Abroad" EP was released, featuring remastered versions of four songs from "Nothing New". On September 12, the "What About Blighty?" single was released, featuring the title track originally from 8 A.M. All Day. On September 30, Numero announced Numero Twenty, a festival celebrating twenty years of Numero Group being active. A slew of reunions were announced for the fest, including Chisel. On November 16, the band announced two additional dates, one staying in California and the other in Chicago.

Discography

EPs and albums

* ''Nothing New'' (April 1995; Gern Blandsten) * ''8 a.m. All Day'' (January 1996; Gern Blandsten) * ''Set You Free'' (April 1997; Gern Blandsten) * ''All My Kin'' (May 2022; Numero Group) * ''Innocents Abroad'' (July 2022; Numero Group) * ''Live on WTPS, 1997'' (November 2022; Numero Group)

Singles

* "Swamp Fox/Spike" b/w "Listen" (September 1991; Assembly Records. Limited 7" release) * "Spectacles" split with Brian, Colin & Vince (August 1993; Sudden Shame Records) * "Sunburn" b/w "Little Gidding" "3 O'Clock High" (August 1994; Gern Blandsten) * "O.T.S." b/w "If You Believe in Christmas Trees" (December 1995; Darla Records) * "It's Alright. You're O.K." b/w "Guns of Meridian Hill" (February 1997; Gern Blandsten/March 2022; Numero Group)

Compilations

* "Swamp Fox/Spike" on ''The Jericho Sessions'' (April 1991; WVFI Radio) * "Sloth" on ''Superpowers'' (1993; Troubleman Unlimited) * "Dream Bar" on ''Incubus 1993'' (April 1993) * "Nothing New" on ''Dog So Large I Cannot See Past It'' (1997; WPRB Radio) * "Out for Kicks" on ''Squirrel'' (September 1995; Level Records) * "Six Different Ways" on ''Give Me the Cure'' (September 1995; Radiopaque) * "No Alibis" on ''Tatterfrock Eight'' (1996; Jumpjet) * "Chiefs" on ''Storm of the Century'' (February 1997; Sudden Shame Records) * "Guns of Meridian Hill" on ''Fort Reno Benefit Compilation'' (September 1997; Resin Records) * "Do Go On" on ''Gern Blandsten - The First Nine Years'' (2001; Gern Blandsten) * "The O.T.S." on ''Darla 100'' (2002; Darla Records)

DVDs

* "Spectacles" on ''Songs for Cassavetes'' (2000)

References

External links

* AllMusic Artist Pagebr>Epitonic pageBand web site as of 2008Official myspace website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chisel Mod revival groups American pop punk groups Punk rock groups from Indiana