The High Back Chairs was a band from

Washington, DC Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and Federal district of the United States, federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from ...

. Initially consisting of guitarist/vocalist Peter Hayes, guitarist Jim Spellman, bassist/vocalist Charles Steck, and drummer/vocalist Jeff Nelson, the group released its music on the Washington, D.C. punk record label,

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 ...

. The band eschewed the

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 ...

and hardcore punk sounds that Dischord was known for. Instead, the High-Back Chairs' music was highly melodic

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom, United States and New Zealand in the early to mid-1980s. Although the term was originally used to describe rock music released through independent reco ...

, owing more to

power pop Power pop (also typeset as powerpop) is a subgenre of rock music and form of pop rock based on the early music of bands such as the Who, the Beatles, the Beach Boys, and the Byrds. It typically incorporates melodic hooks, vocal harmonies, ...

and

jangle pop Jangle pop is a Music subgenre, subgenre of pop rock and college rock that emphasizes jangle, jangly guitars and 1960s-style pop music, pop melodies. The "jangly" guitar sound is characterized by its clean, shimmering and Arpeggio, arpeggiated ...

than to the band's

punk rock Punk rock (also known as simply punk) is a rock music genre that emerged in the mid-1970s. Rooted in 1950s rock and roll and 1960s garage rock, punk bands rejected the corporate nature of mainstream 1970s rock music. They typically produced sh ...

roots. This was all the more notable since Nelson was a co-founder of Dischord and had played in the influential hardcore punk band,

Minor Threat Minor Threat was an American hardcore punk band, formed in 1980 in Washington, D.C., by vocalist Ian MacKaye and drummer Jeff Nelson. MacKaye and Nelson had played in several other bands together, and recruited bassist Brian Baker and guita ...

from 1980 to 1983. "Coming out at a time when grunge held a lot of sway in Amerindie land," ''Trouser Press'' later said of the band, "this breezy, supremely melodic, gutsy rock seemed almost noble."

Career

All four members of the High Back Chairs had been long-time participants in the Washington, D.C. punk subculture before the band was founded in 1989. Hayes had performed in the bands Wonderama and the Mourning Glories (with

Lida Husik Lida Husik (born 1963) is an American Washington, D.C./ New York City-based musician, who was active mainly in the 1990s. She released three albums for New York–based label Shimmy Disc. She later signed a deal with Caroline Records/Astralwerks, ...

), as well as contributed to Kurt Sayenga's fanzine, ''Greed''. Steck had been a member of the

Velvet Monkeys Donald Gene Fleming (born September 25, 1957) is an American musician and producer. Besides fronting a number of his own bands (Velvet Monkeys, B.A.L.L., and Gumball), Fleming has produced Sonic Youth, Screaming Trees, Teenage Fanclub and Ho ...

, Jim Spellman was in

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. The band reunited for a one-off concert in 2002 and f ...

, and Nelson had drummed for Minor Threat,

Three 3 (three) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 2 and preceding 4, and is the smallest odd prime number and the only prime preceding a square number. It has religious and cultural significance in many societies ...

, and Senator Flux. Aside from Dischord, Nelson founded another record label, Adult Swim, around the time the High Back Chairs formed. Adult Swim would go on to release music from

Girls Against Boys Girls Against Boys is a post-hardcore band which formed in Washington, D.C., and subsequently relocated to New York City shortly after their formation in 1989. The band released albums on the labels Adult Swim, Touch and Go Records, Geffen Rec ...

, Holy Rollers, the Snakes, 9353, and others. Nelson's track record for harder-edged music confused and angered some fans who had expected more of the same with the High Back Chairs. Nelson, however, was vocal in his preference for power pop over hardcore. "I definitely am having more fun playing pop stuff now and having the emphasis on nice melodies and vocal lines," he said. "I'm sure some people would view this as a betrayal, but I definitely view a lot of punk and hardcore and my going through it as going through a stage." The High Back Chairs released an LP, ''Of Two Minds'', on Dischord Records in 1991. "From the album's first moment," critic and author Mark Jenkins wrote in

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

, "it's clear that the Chairs are what the British call pop—fresh, immediate, sweet but not soft." Recording from November 1990 through April 1991 at

Inner Ear Studios Inner Ear Studios is a recording studio founded in Arlington, Virginia that has been in operation since the late 1970s. Originally started in founder Don Zientara's basement, the studio spent many years on South Oakland St. in Arlington. The st ...

, the band and co-producer Ted Niceley occasionally clashed during the sessions for ''Of Two Minds''. "We often overlooked Ted’s impressive credentials and constantly second-guessed him," Hayes recalled The group exceeded the recording budget Dischord provided, and also spent significant time and resources on the album's elaborate artwork, but were ultimately satisfied. "What I really liked about working with Ted was that he had a real long view," Spellman said. "He was there to make a classic record, and he didn’t care about punk rock scene politics or anything else." Jim Spellman left the band in 1991 in favor of playing full-time for Velocity Girl and was replaced by Charles Bennington, who co-owned WGNS Studios and had previously been a member of

Bloody Mannequin Orchestra Bloody Mannequin Orchestra were an influential early 1980s punk band from Bethesda, MD. They formed around a small, but active, scene at Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School and were part of the larger D.C hardcore community.Andersen & Jenkins 2001 p ...

. In 1992, the band released a 7", ''2 Songs'', and an EP, ''Curiosity and Relief'', also on Dischord. "Crisp guitars again rule the day, with more sing-song pop choruses, heavy bass and drums, lulling backing vocals and a '60s-meets-'80s feel," Jack Rabid wrote of the EP for ''Trouser Press''. Nelson left the band in 1992 and was replaced by Blair Lee Elrod. The group disbanded in 1993.

Discography

Singles & EPs

* ''2 Songs'' (Dischord, 1992) * ''Curiosity and Relief'' (Dischord, 1992)

Albums

* ''Of Two Minds'' (Dischord, 1991)

Compilation appearances

* "$1.60" on ''Echos of the Nation's Capital'' (Third World Underground, 1991) * "Summer" on ''20 Years of Dischord (1980–2000)'' (Dischord, 2002)

References

{{Reflist

External links

High Back Chairs at Dischord.comHigh Back Chairs at Trouser PressSecret History: The High Back Chairs' ''Of Two Minds''
Musical groups from Washington, D.C.