Last year, beloved pop-punk trio Jawbreaker stepped onstage for the first time in more than 20 years to headline the final night of Chicagoâs Riot Fest. It was the preliminary step in a long-dreamt-of reunion that will finally reach Portland for two nights this week. Thereâs even chatter of new music being hashed out by the group. Itâs the kind of news that should warm every sensitive soul who used quotes from âAccident Proneâ and âKiss the Bottleâ as the status message on their AIM accounts (âI kissed the bottle/I should have been kissing youâ).
Jawbreaker originally existed for about a decade in the late â80s and â90s. Formed by three NYU studentsâguitarist/vocalist Blake Schwarzenbach, drummer Adam Pfahler, and bassist Chris Bauermeisterâthe band picked up a head of steam upon relocating to California, falling in with the punk scenes in LA and the Bay Area through their ragged and complex tunes. What drew the kids in were Schwarzenbachâs lyrics detailing his frustration with snobby scenesters and his romantic failings. No matter how petty or deeply felt the concern, he expressed everything with a full-throated bellow and thoughtfully chosen words.
Momentum and buzz for the band built through the â90s, thanks to their growing strength as songwriters (their four-year evolution from the tuneful yet wobbly debut Unfun to the punchy, unrelenting drive of 24 Hour Revenge Therapy still feels remarkable) and led to the band getting swept up in the post-Nevermind major label spending spree. The resulting DGC album Dear You was Jawbreakerâs finest hour, a high-def display of broken hearts and embittered spirits. But many of their hardcore fans rejected it for its clean sound and Schwarzenbachâs more measured singing. Within the band, relationships were already tenuous, and the chilly reception to the album didnât help. Jawbreaker split in 1996.
The timing was both awful and perfect: The trio missed out on pop-punkâs platinum-selling reign and the rise of emo-pop outfits like Jimmy Eat World and Fall Out Boy. And their post-Jawbreaker work, especially Schwarzenbachâs more tempered, but still powerful group Jets to Brazil, was generally dismissed. At the same time, many of the bands that arrived in Jawbreakerâs wake name-checked them frequently, and a cult surrounding the groupâand the potential reconciliation of its membersâgrew as a result. So much so that a gaggle of kids from New York named their band Jawbreaker Reunion as a jokey way to attract attention to their rickety twee-punk.
Now that Jawbreaker is finally returning to Portland, it feels strangely anticlimactic. Could it have something to do with the many gigs theyâve already played, including stops in Seattle and Olympia? Or could it be an aftereffect of our hype-driven age thatâs more concerned about whatâs happening right now? (Charging $50 for tickets certainly isnât helping their cause.) Will any of it matter once the jangly chords of âBoxcarâ hit fans in the chest at the Crystal Ballroom? Not on your life.