In Remembrance: Cap'n Jazz
The Cap'n Jazz band tree is a confusing one.
This one’s for all you fans of the fine city of Chicago and the fine decade prior to the current, a decade I have since dubbed “The 90’s.” You can use that name by the way, I’m sure all your friends will wish they had thought of it first. And yes, I’ve got cute little nicknames for all the decades. The 1970’s I fondly refer to as “The 70’s” and the 1980’s I’ve come to christen as, “Holy butt plugs and butterflies Batman! They actually wore that? Man, that’s unbelievable. Wait? Is that really a dude’s hair? Well, at least they invented Pacman: The Decade.” Now you may be wondering what all this talk of nicknames is alluding to, so I’ll tell you. It’s in honor of this week’s ex-band, Cap’n Jazz, who too, were fans of ridiculously long album titles and their subsequent nicknames.
Maybe the most surprising thing about Cap’n Jazz was how young all the members were at the time of its conception. When Tim and Mike Kinsella started the band in 1989 they were 15 and 12 years old respectively. Bassist Sam Zurick and guitarist Victor Villareal were also about Tim’s age at the time the band formed. The teens had all be in a group together prior starting Cap’n Jazz, however, this eventually changed in 1989 when after a name change. Looking back at the start of Cap’n Jazz, Tim recalled, “It [Toejam] was going shitty, so we just kept playing together and got stuck with a ridiculous name I never liked.”
Even for being such youngsters, the group was determined and hardworking. In 1993 alone, the band appeared on seven compilations and released two 7” recordings of their own, Sometimes if you stand further away from something, it does not seem as big. Sometimes you can stand so close to something you cannot tell what you are looking at and Boys 16 to 18 Years... Age of Action.
Davey von Bohlen joined the group in 1994 on guitar and additional vocals. At this point Cap’n Jazz had developed a sizable following in the Chicago and Midwest area. After the addition of Davey, the band hit the studio to record their first, and only full-length album.
Burritos, Inspiration Point, Fork Balloon Sports, Cards In The Spokes, Automatic Biographies, Kites, Kung Fu, Trophies, Banana Peels We've Slipped On and Egg Shells We've Tippy Toed Over, or more commonly known as Schmap’n Schmazz, was Cap’n Jazz’s first and only LP ever recorded. The album was released on Chicago’s short-lived label, Man With Gun Records. Shortly after the album’s 1995 release, the group would call it quits after a show in Little Rock. Members of the band stated the disbandment was so they could each pursue other musical endeavors.
In 1998, a full three years after their breakup, Cap’n Jazz, with the help of hardcore label, Jade Tree Records, released nearly all of the bands recorded material on a single anthology named Analphabetapolothology. Analphabetapolothology received much wider distribution and publicity than any of the band’s recordings while the group was still active. The anthology received praise from critics and fans alike, featuring Schmap’n Schmazz in its entirety along with several other singles and a fair amount of unreleased songs.
After the breakup, members went on to form a number of other projects, including: Joan of Arc, The Promise Ring, Make Believe, Owen, Owls, American Football, Ghosts and Vodka, Everyoned, Sky Corvair, The One Up Downstairs, Noyes and Friend/ Enemy. As this is a veritable shit-ton of bands to cover, If you’re interested you can check them out yourself here.
Posted by Andrew Scott on Oct 12, 2009 @ 8:00 am