Happy Go Licky was an American
post-hardcore
Post-hardcore is a punk rock music genre that maintains the aggression and intensity of hardcore punk but emphasizes a greater degree of creative expression. Like the term " post-punk", the term "post-hardcore" has been applied to a broad conste ...
band formed in the spring of 1987, and which broke up after their final show at
Washington, D.C.'s
9:30 Club on New Year's Day in 1988.
The group was a short-lived reunion of the renowned
D.C. hardcore band
Rites of Spring (active from 1984 to 1986).
Though comprising the same personnel as Rites of Spring (
Eddie Janney and
Guy Picciotto on guitar and vocals;
Mike Fellows on bass and vocals;
Brendan Canty on drums), their music was vastly different from their earlier incarnation. Happy Go Licky was far more
experimental
An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome occurs whe ...
, often incorporating
tape loop
In music, tape loops are loops of magnetic tape used to create repetitive, rhythmic musical patterns or dense layers of sound when played on a tape recorder. Originating in the 1940s with the work of Pierre Schaeffer, they were used among ...
s and sound effects into their live performances; additionally, their songs were often largely or entirely improvised, and featured unusual structures.
Their short life span did not allow Happy Go Licky to ever get into a recording studio; however some taped live performances were initially released in 1988 as a self-titled 12-inch on Picciotto's own Peterbilt Records. Later a larger selection of their performances was assembled and released on
Dischord Records
Dischord Records is a Washington, D.C.–based independent record label specializing in punk rock. The label is co-owned by Ian MacKaye and Jeff Nelson, who founded Dischord in 1980 to release '' Minor Disturbance'' by their band the Teen Id ...
as ''Will Play'' (1997).
References
Punk rock groups from Washington, D.C.
Dischord Records artists
American post-hardcore musical groups
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