Cap'n Jazz
Foundational emo band formed by brothers Tim and Mike Kinsella in Buffalo Grove in the early 1990s. When they broke up in 1995, Tim had just turned 20; Mike was 17, finishing his senior year of high school. Their chaotic, technically complex sound and dramatic breakup—Mike later claimed they "broke up with their fists"—set the template for the scene's emotional intensity. The name came from a breakfast table moment: Sam Zurick was really into the jazz/beatnik era when he started playing music and was adamant on having "jazz" in the band name. One day eating Cap'n Crunch cereal, he blurted out "Cap'n Jazz"—for whatever reason they all agreed. Influences included Jane's Addiction, Dinosaur Jr, Metallica, Gauge, skateboarding, Beastie Boys, marijuana vs straight edge, jazz aesthetic, girls and boys.
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Burritos, Inspiration Point, Fork Balloon Sports...
Cap'n Jazz's only full-length album (also known as Shmap'n Shmazz), establishing the chaotic, technically complex template for the scene before their violent breakup in July 1995 at Das Yutes a Go-Go in Little Rock. Released just months before the band broke up with their fists. The most polished and sincere Cap'n Jazz accomplishment, brimming with meticulous math-rock that grows from whispered frenzies to feverish explosions of atom-splitting virility.
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Double-disc retrospective compiled by Jade Tree in 1998 that made Cap'n Jazz's complete recorded works available, fueling the band's growing influence after their breakup. Liner notes credited to "Ex-Cap'n Jazz" ended with "Thank you. You're welcome. I'm sorry. It's okay."—tribute, gift, apology and closure all at once. By then members had scattered into Joan of Arc, The Promise Ring, American Football, each carrying forward some piece of what Cap'n Jazz had started.