Moss Icon
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| Moss Icon | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Annapolis Maryland United States |
| Genre(s) | Hardcore Punk Emo |
| Years active | 1986 – 1991 |
| Label(s) | Vermin Scum Troubleman Unlimited Vermiform Ebullition Records |
| Members | |
| Johnathan Vance Tonie Joy Monica DiGialleonardo Mark Laurence |
|
Moss Icon was an Annapolis, Maryland emo band from 1986 to 1991. The original members were Jonathan Vance, Tonie Joy, Monica DiGialleonardo, and Mark Laurence. Moss Icon are most known for their influence on the splinter genre of punk known as Emo, and affiliation to the original DC bands born in the so-called "Revolution Summer" of 1985, including Rites of Spring, Gray Matter, Embrace, and Maryland's The Hated.
The band's identifying characteristics, and those that distinguish them from their contemporaries, include noticeable and abrupt transitions from loud to quiet, Joy's distinct arpeggiated guitar (often undistorted and picked), and Vance's esoteric, sometimes meandering lyrical content. Earlier recordings of the band are reminiscent of early Joy Division, particularly in guitar style, while later songs embodied a less blunt approach, noted by some detractors as making Moss Icon "like Grateful Dead for punks." The band championed, among other issues, the plight of indigenous peoples in the Americas, and opposed the US Government's involvement in Nicaragua and Guatemala.
Moss Icon recorded their debut 7", "Hate in Me", in January 1988 and entered the studio several months later to record their second 7", Mahpuia Luta. Their "Lyburnum Wits End Liberation Fly" LP was recorded by Les Lentz and Tony French throughout 1988 and released in mid-1994 by Vermiform. In 1990 a splinter project of Moss Icon was formed called Breathing Walker, containing all four members of Moss Icon plus Alex Badertscher on bass, Zak Fusciello on percussion, and Tim Horner on violin; Breathing Walker released a cassette that was re-released in 2001 by the Vermin Scum label along with live tracks. Moss Icon's third 7", entitled "Memorial", was recorded in January 1991 along with a split LP with Silver Bearing. In 1994 Ebullition Records released the It Disappears LP, compiling several songs from "Memorial" and the split LP along with live versions of several songs.
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[edit] Post-breakup
After the dissolution of Moss Icon, guitarist Joy was a member of the bands Born Against, Lava, Universal Order of Armageddon, The Great Unraveling, and Convocation Of.... Other band members were less involved in music, excepting Laurence's drums in Lava, and DiGialleonardo's Blue Condors. Moss Icon reformed to play a handful of shows with Zak Fusciello on drums and Alex Badertscher on 2nd guitar, including the 2001 More Than Music Fest in Columbus, Ohio and at the renovated Charles Theatre in Baltimore, Maryland.
[edit] Discography
- demo tape cassette (1987, self-released)
- Hate in Me
- What They Lack
- Never Turning
- My Strength, My Weakness
- Mirror
- We Deny
- Sorrow
- Hate in Me 7" (1988, Vermin Scum)
- Hate In Me
- What They Lack
- I'm Back Sleeping or Fucking or Something
- Kiss The Girls and Make Them Die
- Mahpiua Luta 7" (1989, Vermin Scum)
- The Life or This Grape Juice Drink
- Kick the Can
- Memorial 7" (1991, Vermin Scum)
- Memorial
- Moth
- Moss Icon/Silver Bearing split LP with Silver Bearing (1991, Vermin Scum)
- Guatemala
- Gravity
- Familiar Presides
- As Afterwards The Words Still Ring
- Lyburnum (Wit's End Liberation Fly) LP (1994, Vermiform Records)
- Mirror
- I'm Back Sleeping or Fucking or Something
- The Life
- Divinity Cove
- Locket
- Kick the Can
- Lybernum Wits End Liberation Fly
- Cricketty Rise
- As Afterwards The Words Still Ring
- Happy
- It Disappears LP (1994, Ebullition Records/ Vermin Scum)
- Guatemala
- Memorial
- Moth
- Gravity
- I'm Back Sleeping or Fucking or Something
- It Disappears
[edit] Compilation appearances
- Panx Zine #3 compilation 7" - 1 song (1988, Panx)
- Life is Change comp CD - 1 song (1991, Bari Beri)
- Superpowers cassette compilation - song "Sioux Day" (1992, Troubleman Unlimited)
- Powerless II comp LP - 1 song (1992)
- Fear of Smell comp LP - song "Excerpt From It Disappears" (1993, Vermiform)
- False Object Sensor comp LP/CD - 1 song "Cornflower Blue" with The Hated (2001, Vermiform-- also appears on The Hated "unreleased songs" bootleg LP)
[edit] Related bands
- Born Against - Tonie Joy
- Breathing Walker - Jonathan Vance, Mark Laurence, Monica DiGialleonardo, Tonie Joy
- The Convocation Of... - Tonie Joy
- The Great Unraveling - Tonie Joy
- Jonathan Vance - Jonathan Vance
- Lava - Mark Laurence, Tonie Joy
- Universal Order of Armageddon - Tonie Joy
