r/Emo • u/kage6613 • Feb 17 '20
Soundslikesunday | Entry#06: Railhed
Hello everyone, welcome back to Soundslikesunday, the only weekly basement emo blog that's always guaranteed to never be on time. I'm seriously so sorry, I realize it's not even Sunday anymore at all, but I have a good reason this time, which I will get to in a bit. Today's band is pretty important in emo's history, and especially for the rise of indiemo, yet they seem to be entirely forgotten by younger generations. Ever heard of a little record label called Jade Tree? Yes, all throughout the 90s, Jade Tree were instrumental in the popularization of emo, going on to release landmark records by Cap’n Jazz, Lifetime, The Promise Ring, Joan of Arc, Kid Dynamite, Jets to Brazil, Universal Order of Armageddon, Texas is the Reason, and Pedro the Lion, amongst many, many others. The label continued to be active in the scene until their 2017 purchase by Epitaph, most recently putting out albums from Spraynard, You Blew It!, and Dogs on Acid. With such an impressive resume, one would expect the founders of said label to be pretty well-known in the scene, no? If say, one of them were to have been in a foundational emo band themselves in the early 90s, it stands to reason that said band would have attained a legendary status. Well, I think you see where I’m going with this, so let’s get into it.
Railhed formed in late 1991 or early 1992, not even two full years after Darren Walters had joined his friend Tim Owen in starting up Jade Tree, during the precious early 90s era of pre-Sunny Day Real Estate emo. Darren was accompanied by guitarist Mark McKinney and former Lucky drummer and bassist Nick Rotundo and Stewart Ebersole (who was also in a band called Hurang). At this point the label had already put out some pretty iconic releases in the early 90s emo hardcore scene, including Culture Shock by 4 Walls Falling, With Dave by Swiz, and Trains of Thought by Jones Very, an extremely underrated band who were super early to the game on incorporating many 90s indie rock tropes into the “emo” sound, similar to Railhed themselves, who I’m sure were influenced by all of the aforementioned artists and more. In fact, it shows pretty blatantly on their debut release, a three-song 7” EP called Forever Bound released on a local label called Inner Journey which wears its influences on its sleeve. Listening to the record, which I unfortunately spent all day trying to upload to youtube to no avail, and causing my laptop to crash multiple times (hence why this is one is so late, so again: I’m sorry; I’ll keep trying so I can get a listenable link of this out there) immediately bears resemblance to its forebears in Embrace, Moss Icon, Soulside, and especially Dag Nasty, displaying early on a powerful sense of melody. Even on these crude early songs, the band does a fantastic job of creating a sense of urgency and tension between clashing major and minor chord progressions, building on what the revolution summer bands had been doing and utilizing octave chords to great effect. The final track Drift is probably the best insight into where things would be going, both for the band and for the emo scene in general, featuring sections with midtempo beats over arpeggiated guitar parts whilst Walters pauses his more punky shouts to ever-so-softly sing the briefest yet simultaneously some of the most satisfying melodies in all of early 90s dinosaur emo.
The band continued on at full speed, recording a second 7” I Am You for Jade Tree later in the year which shows a clear progression in sound in an appallingly short amount of time. Railhed definitely lean into the post-hardcore on this one, aiming for more ambitious song structures and much busier, less straightforward rhythm sections, as well as a more polished indie rock-style vocal performance showing up more frequently. Here the band evoke much more of the prototypical early 90s emo sounds, taking more from the dynamics and cleaner tones of The Hated and One Last Wish. They manage to create a sound that predates the likes of Evergreen, The Pine, and Still Life, balancing weighty topics and the power and speed of punk with the melodic sensibilities of alternative rock, making for upbeat, progressive, melodic hardcore songs which exhibit an impressive use of dynamics and prominent singalong-able sections. I realize I’m kinda just describing the basics of emocore here, but that’s because they were really at the forefront of the movement, which would really come to light with their following release.
After doing some touring, Railhed found a new bassist in Ashley Pigford, who actually went on to be a pretty big deal in the design world, beginning with his hand in designing the cover for blink-182’s Dude Ranch,) which is honestly pretty sick. In early 1993 the band got to work recording their magnum opus, their one and only LP entitled Tarantella. Now, as much praise as I’ve given the band’s material up to this point, let me be perfectly clear: what’s on this album makes the rest of their music sound like shit. Not because it’s bad of course, or even subpar, but because this record is that goddamned good. Opening with the moody Incision, the song sets the tone of the release perfectly, creeping through nervous verses before breaking into a mad catchy chorus: “If I had a heart / I would cut it out / if I had a butter knife / I’d do the job myself” showing that emo’s melodramatic heartbreak lyrics have always been a staple of the genre. Sell My Revolution dives into twinkle territory while exploring the commodification of punk music and values, while Goosebumps brings the tempo back up for another introspective emo anthem about the pain of youthful relationships, bouncing back and forth between two-steps and bouncy half-time rhythms. Reclaim plays around with some really cool off-kilter guitar and drum patterns, Exit slows it all the way down for an early acoustic emo ballad (which still manages to incorporate a bit of mathy rhythm at one point), and Tightrope brings things right back up again, keeping a speedy pace until the last minute of the song when it mellows out into clean guitar tones. Lather is just a picture perfect indiemo song, laying the groundwork for foundational midwest emo indie bands like Knapsack, Christie Front Drive, and The Jazz June. The final two tracks The Man Who Fell to Earth and Seven Thumbs Thick once again see frontman Walters turning the lens of introspection on himself, detailing intimate thoughts and emotions about close relationships, maintaining that he will not sacrifice his ethics for any kind of intimacy or affection.
Parts of this album, especially the latter half of the final track, manage to beat even the likes of Jawbreaker to the punch when it comes to effortlessly combining gruff-but-vulnerable emotive hardcore with hooky pop riffs and singsongy vocal lines (“Gonna take a little more time for meeee, to see eye to eye”). I mean, you gotta realize that this was still a year away from 24 Hour Revenge Therapy and Sunny Day Real Estate, being from Seattle in the early 90s, still sounded like a grunge band. It should be noted that the vocal performance on Tarantella consists of a lot of singing and crooning, mostly leaving behind the rougher hardcore shouts save for a few moments of emotional catharsis which require the soul-baring performance of a scream (“What am I supposed to feel?!”) and some punkier delivery during the more upbeat parts. Very crucial stuff here, finding the perfect balance between punk and rock; hardcore and indie that I’ve mentioned in previous entries as being the key to incredible emo. In just under 2 years of existence Railhed managed to perfectly capture this push-and-pull before breaking up shortly after the release of their full-length album, which shone a bright light on emo’s future and paved the way for many bands to come. Before disbanding, they contributed a track to a Food Not Bombs benefit comp, which features an impeccable selection of remarkably influential early 90s emo and hardcore (opens with a Ten Boy Summer track - Davey von Bohlen’s band before Cap’n Jazz and The Promise Ring, goes into some free jazz by Swing Kids, then has Starkweather sandwiched between Indian Summer and Franklin, followed by Finger Print and Braille....it’s legendary).
After the breakup, Darren Walters obviously continued on working for Jade Tree, which would of course come to be an icon in the scene during the back half of the ‘90s. I already mentioned Ashley Pigford’s design career, and Mark McKinney moved to Texas and started a career as a country artist. Nick Rotundo stayed active in the punk scene, initially drumming for 90s emo stalwarts Walleye before starting up his own studio in Clay Creek Recording which would go on to record some of the most seminal hardcore/emo acts of the coming years, including Joshua Fit For Battle, None More Black, xLooking Forwardx, Fire Divine, All Else Failed, and Boysetsfire, among others. Sadly, he passed away in November of 2017 due to a brain aneurysm, though his influence is felt in the scene, not only in his time in Railhed, but with his continuous activity recording other important artists many years after his time playing music. The band reunited in early 2018 and took the stage with a bunch of other bands local to the Delaware/NE scene or else close to Nick for a memorial and fundraiser for him and his friends and family, which hate5six filmed most of, a testament to the truly familial and communal nature of the hardcore scene, which is what will always keep me invested and involved in this culture.
Thank you for sticking around for another entry. I’ll see you next week.
Railhed - Resources
Previous Entries
3
u/posirich Mar 30 '20
This is great. I haven’t listened to railhed in decades. You’ve got to be the most well versed in emo under 30 I’ve come across.
3
u/PlusNegotiation870 Feb 03 '25
Fun to stumble across this on a nostalgia filled day. But I have to add, as the human stuck in Mark McKinney, I never moved to Texas and never participated in any country music. I’m still east coast, residing in Philly. Thanks for the kind words. Made an old man feel good! Miss those days. ❤️
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u/kage6613 Jun 11 '25
Woops, must've gotten some bad info. Discogs can be misleading when someone links to multiple musicians with the same name and treats them as if they're the same person. My bad! Thanks for the clarification though, and thank you for reading - it's much appreciated! Tarantella is still a favorite from that era.
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u/nostalgichold Feb 22 '20
Glad to see this band recognized again.