Rites of Spring was an American punk rock band from Washington, D.C., formed in late 1983. Along with Embrace, and Beefeater, they were one of the mainstay acts of the 1985 Revolution Summer movement Andersen, Mark; Jenkins, Mark ( Soft Skull Press, 2001). ''Dance of Days: Two Decades of Punk in the Nation's Capital''. Fourth ed., 2009. Akashic Books. . p. 193. which took place within the Washington, D.C. hardcore punk scene. Musically, Rites of Spring increased the frenetic violence and visceral passion of

hardcore punk Hardcore punk (also known as simply hardcore) is a punk rock music genre and subculture that originated in the late 1970s. It is generally faster, harder, and more aggressive than other forms of punk rock. Its roots can be traced to earlier pu ...

while simultaneously experimenting with its compositional rules. Lyrically, they also shifted hardcore into intensely personal realms and, in doing so, are often considered the first emo band, but the band itself rejected any association between themselves and the emo label. The band only performed 19 shows, 16 in the DC area and 3 outside of DC. Vocalist/guitarist Guy Picciotto and drummer Brendan Canty went on to play in

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 ...

with producer and former Minor Threat singer Ian MacKaye in the late 1980s, while bassist Mike Fellows formed Miighty Flashlight and has had a solo career.

History

Picciotto, Canty, and Fellows had previously played together in the short-lived hardcore band Insurrection. The trio was joined by guitarist Eddie Janney—formerly of the Faith, Skewbald, and the Untouchables—and began writing music together in December 1983. The band finished several songs during this early period, like "All There Is," "End on End," and "By Design." The group made a demo recording 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 ...

in April 1984, but Fellows moved to California. "We thought he was leaving forever," Picciotto recalled. "And then we just kept practicing without him, hoping he'd come back. Lo and behold, three months later, he returned." ''

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the dat ...

'''s Matt Kantor described the band's music as being at times "fast and furious" while also being "at other times lush and evocative though always with a sense of drive and melody." Though rooted in the loud-and-fast style of

, Rites of Spring is to be among the first bands who played music in the emotional hardcore genre, or what is now commonly and retrospectively called

emo-core 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 ...

, a precursor of screamo. Jenny Toomey notes that, "Rites of Spring existed well before the term did and they hated it." They were influenced by The Faith (Eddie Janney's previous band) and their 1983 EP '' Subject to Change'' with their introspective lyrics and angry, melody-tinged songwriting. The band is named after the symphonic ballet '' The Rite of Spring'' by

Igor Stravinsky Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (6 April 1971) was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor, later of French (from 1934) and American (from 1945) citizenship. He is widely considered one of the most important and influential composers of the ...

. "We were reading about Stravinsky and the first erformancewhere everybody beat each other on the head," Picciotto explained. "Whenever you fuck with someone musically and they take their music really serious, they're gonna fuck with you back." Picciotto also said the band chose the name to reflect their desire to revive the D.C. punk scene. "We were trying to create a rebirth of what's going on here," he said. "It seemed to be stagnating for a long time and we just thought the name kind of fit the way we felt, a springtime type thing."

Recordings

'' Rites of Spring'' was the band’s eponymous debut album from 1985. Its twelve songs were recorded at

in February 1985, produced by Ian MacKaye of

and Minor Threat and Michael Hampton of The Faith and SOA. It was released on vinyl in June of that year as Dischord Records No. 16. The album was re-released on CD and cassette in 1987, with an additional track from the same session, "Other Way Around," as well as the four songs from the Rites' follow-up EP, ''

All Through a Life ''All Through a Life'' is an EP by American punk rock band Rites of Spring. It was released in 1987, after the band had broken up. Track listing (all songs by Rites of Spring Rites of Spring was an American punk rock band from Washington, D ...

'', Dischord No. 22. The CD and cassette originally retained the number "16" while the 1991 repress, as well as the 2001 remastered version of the same seventeen songs, were numbered "16CD" and given the new title ''

End on End ''End on End'' is a compilation album by American punk rock band Rites of Spring. It was released in 1991 on Dischord. The album consists of the group's first album ''Rites of Spring'' and its EP '' All Through a Life'', along with an extra stu ...

''. Their first demo of six songs was recorded in April of 1984, almost a year before the sessions that became their debut album. It was released as a CD EP and 10" vinyl record in 2012 on Dischord Records with the catalog number 176. The band broke up in January 1986 soon after the sessions that produced the "All Through A Life" recording.

Post-breakup and musical influence

Picciotto, Janney and Canty formed One Last Wish with Embrace alumnus, guitarist Michael Hampton. They recorded one studio album, entitled ''1986'', which was released in 1999 due to the band breaking up after mixing was finished.Strong, Martin C. (2003) "Rites of Spring", in ''The Great Indie Discography'', Canongate, The Rites of Spring personnel reunited for a quasi-reincarnation called Happy Go Licky, releasing an LP/CD of various live concert recordings though never producing any studio work. The music was much more experimental than Rites of Spring, heavily improvised and featuring tape loop effects. Picciotto and Canty eventually teamed up with bassist Joe Lally and former Minor Threat, Skewbald/Grand Union, Egg Hunt, and Embrace singer Ian MacKaye (co-owner of the band’s label, Dischord Records) in

. Mike Fellows went on to do session work for the Drag City label and form

Miighty Flashlight Mike Fellows, also known as Miighty Flashlight, is an American musician who has performed and recorded with a variety of groups and artists since the early 1980s, notably Rites of Spring, Silver Jews, and Endless Boogie ''Endless Boogie'' i ...

, releasing an eponymous album under this name in 2002. Picciotto himself doesn't recognize the attribution of having "created" emo. When asked about it in an interview his response was, "I've never recognized 'emo' as a genre of music. I always thought it was the most retarded term ever. I know there is this generic commonplace that every band that gets labeled with that term hates it. They feel scandalized by it. But honestly, I just thought that all the bands I played in were punk rock bands. The reason I think it's so stupid is that – what, like the Bad Brains weren't emotional? What – they were robots or something? It just doesn't make any sense to me." Dischord released the band's only demo, entitled ''Six Song Demo'', in October 2012. All tracks on the demo were previously recorded versions of songs appearing on the ''Rites of Spring'' album.

Members

* Guy Picciotto – guitar, vocals * Edward Janney – guitar * Mike Fellows – bass guitar * Brendan Canty – drums

Discography

Studio album

* '' Rites of Spring'' (1985)

EP

* ''

'' (1987)

Compilation

* ''

'' (1991)

Demo

* ''Six Song Demo'' (2012)

References

External links

* Pattison, Louis (November 27, 2012)
"Rites of Spring and the summer that changed punk rock"
''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide ...

''. {{DEFAULTSORT:Rites Of Spring American emo musical groups Hardcore punk groups from Washington, D.C. American post-hardcore musical groups Dischord Records artists First-wave emo bands Musical groups disestablished in 1986 Musical groups established in 1984