One Last Wish was a short-lived
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 from Washington, D.C.
It was formed in May 1986 by members of
Rites of Spring and
Embrace, and split up in January 1987.
History
Amidst the breakup of
Rites of Spring in 1986, three of its four members –
Picciotto,
Janney and
Canty – formed the band, alongside
Michael Hampton, former guitarist of
the Faith and
Embrace. With the name One Last Wish the band began playing shows in August 1986, which were mostly in the D.C. area and included a series of benefit shows.
Their sole recording was done in November 1986 at
Inner Ear Studios in
Arlington, Virginia
Arlington County, or simply Arlington, is a County (United States), county in the U.S. state of Virginia. The county is located in Northern Virginia on the southwestern bank of the Potomac River directly across from Washington, D.C., the nati ...
. It was engineered by
Don Zientara and produced by
Ian MacKaye
Ian Thomas Garner MacKaye (; born April 16, 1962) is an American musician. Active since 1979, he is best known as the co-founder and owner of Dischord Records, a Washington, D.C.–based independent record label, and the frontman of hardcore pu ...
. One Last Wish broke up shortly after mixing was completed, and as a result the album was not released until much later. Dischord had decided against the release in light of their growing reputation as a label of defunct bands.
Post breakup
During 1987 and 1988, Picciotto, Janney and Canty reunited with Michael Fellows for a quasi reunion of Rites of Spring, taking on the new name
Happy Go Licky.
Also in 1987, Canty joined
Fugazi
Fugazi (; ) is an American post-hardcore band 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 were noted for their style-transc ...
(that featured
Ian McKaye and
Joe Lally). Picciotto joined Fugazi later around 1988.
Hampton formed the band
Manifesto
A manifesto is a written declaration of the intentions, motives, or views of the issuer, be it an individual, group, political party, or government. A manifesto can accept a previously published opinion or public consensus, but many prominent ...
in 1988.
One song, "Burning in the Undertow", was released on the Dischord benefit sampler "State of the Union" in April 1989.
Thirteen years after being recorded ''1986'' was finally released in November 1999, on MacKaye's
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 ...
label.
Influence
Twenty years after the 1999 release of 1986 material, the song "My Better Half" was listed by
Vulture.com as number 81 of the 100 greatest
emo songs.
Discography
* ''1986'' Dischord Records (1999)
References
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American post-hardcore musical groups
American emo musical groups
Punk rock groups from Washington, D.C.
Dischord Records artists
First-wave emo bands