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REV213-1 (PRE-ORDER)
RELEASE DATE: 3/7/25
1,998 Yellow (RevHQ Exclusive)
There is a disparaging, and thankfully long-lost, letter that I penned to a friend who was trying to tip me off to the soon-to-be Long Island iconoclasts Glassjaw. In it, I summarily dismissed the post-hardcore band as another entry in a long list of major label interlopers like Jawbox and Shudder to Think. From post-hardcore career-men like Orange 9mm to the obscure likes of Into Another, if you brandished an SG at your hip, you were fair game and there was a check with an unexpected amount of zeros waiting for you. But that very small window of “anything goes” when majors were scrambling to get their mitts on their share of the turf kicked up with Nirvana and the Seattle grunge movement was closing.
In the wake of that, Glassjaw was collateral damage. I was convinced post-hardcore was a mainstream nonstarter. Despite the fact it was a subgenre I personally gravitated to because I signed pioneering acts like Jawbox, Samiam, and CIV to various major labels, I had my hopes dashed against the rocks of commerce too many times so I stopped taking such ambitious risks. These bands gave great cultural contributions, but weren’t financially viable in the eyes of majors.
Right after I sent that aforementioned letter, I saw them actually perform at an Earth Crisis show on Long Island. This is where a sound akin to Bad Brains, NYHC, Dischord proto-emo, and something utterly undefinable pulled me in. It was the Kiss Kiss Bang Bang era and roughshod as they were, I was intrigued. At that point, Glassjaw was something unexpectedly great, in chrysalis. But saddled with A&R responsibilities at a new label, I needed to find economically sound and commercially viable acts.
Which brings us to this recording. The Sessions, done in 1998, at Don Fury Studio at 18 Spring Street Nolita NYC, now a year after the letter, was the beginning of the materialization of Glassjaw’s full depth of sound and creativity. This maturation was made possible because Don Fury was not merely New York hardcore’s most prolific producer but moreover, its greatest advocate and documentarian recording and capturing contemporaries including Agnostic Front, Sick Of It All, Gorilla Biscuits, Underdog, Quicksand, Shelter, CIV, and a slew of others at a time when hardcore-punk solely existed underground to a niche and discriminating audience.
Recognizing the massive potential of Glassjaw’s reach, Don worked with the band and created these tracks in an effort to sign them to his own subsidiary label. Ultimately, Fury’s corporate distributor rejected the band despite countless arguments and attempts. In defiance, Fury had 100 cassettes of The Sessions made and they began to circulate underground. Without the band’s knowledge, that cassette found its way to my desk. This set off a chain reaction that still has sonic volume and musical currency today.
The truth is: Don Fury’s The Sessions wasn’t the music I had previously dismissed. Even though the band was not designed for mass consumption, this was clearly something different with a will of its own that still casts a long shadow today. This demo was the fully fleshed-out utterances of a musical language that was just beginning to be spoken. Sure, there were plenty of bands who, after hearing these songs, attempted a Glassjaw-esque formula that went on to greater, albeit momentary success, but Glassjaw would outlast and outclass them all.
To Glassjaw in 1993, the combination of a Revelation Records release produced by Don Fury would be the epitome of success. This was their only goal, so it’s both poetic justice and a rich notch on their belt to have these original tracks from 1998 remastered by Don Fury to be released by Revelation over 30 years later.
-Mike Gitter
Track Listing:
1. Pretty Lush
2. One Eight Becomes Two Zeros
3. Ry Ry's Song
4. Majour
5. Motel Of White Lotus
6. Matchbook Blackbook
7. Harlem
8. Train In Vain