Moss Icon

Moss Icon
Background information
Origin	Annapolis, Maryland, United States
Genres	Post-hardcore, emocore
Years active	1986–1991, 2001
Labels	Vermin Scum Troubleman Unlimited Vermiform Ebullition Records
Members
Jonathan Vance Tonie Joy Monica DiGialleonardo Mark Laurence Alex Badertscher Zak Fusciello

Moss Icon was an Annapolis, Maryland post-hardcore band from 1986 to 1991. Its original members were singer Jonathan Vance, guitarist Tonie Joy, bassist Monica DiGialleonardo, and drummer Mark Laurence. Alex Badertscher joined as second guitarist in 1990. Moss Icon is best known for its influence on the hardcore punk splinter genre known as "emotive hardcore" or emo, and its affiliation with Maryland's The Hated.

History and background

Formation to breakup

The band's identifying characteristics, and those that distinguished them from their contemporaries, included noticeable and abrupt transitions from loud to quiet, Joy's distinct arpeggiated guitar (often 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."^{[citation needed]} The band touched upon vaguely, among other issues, the plight of indigenous peoples of the Americas, and opposed the U.S. 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", "Mahpiua Luta". Their "Lyburnum Wits End Liberation Fly" LP was recorded by Les Lentz throughout 1988 but was not released until mid-1994, three years after the band's break-up, by Vermiform Records. 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 songs from "Memorial" with live versions of several songs.

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 on vinyl and CD in 2001 by the Vermin Scum label, along with live tracks.

Post-breakup and 2001 reformation

After the dissolution of Moss Icon, guitarist Tonie Joy was a member of the bands Universal Order of Armageddon, Born Against, The Great Unraveling, and The Convocation Of.... (later rechristened The Convocation). Other band members were less involved in music, excepting Laurence's drums in Lava, DiGialleonardo's Blue Condors, and Vance's solo debut LP.

Moss Icon reunited to play two shows with Zak Fusciello on drums, one at the 2001 More Than Music Fest in Columbus, Ohio and the other at the renovated Charles Theatre in Baltimore, Maryland.

2008 activity

In July 2008, Moss Icon was named one of the "23 Bands Who Shaped Punk" by Alternative Press magazine.^[1]

Currently, Tonie Joy, Jonathan Vance, Zak Fusciello, and Alex Badertscher are working on material for a new recording in Baltimore, MD with live shows being a future possibility.

Discography

• Demo Tape cassette (1987, self-released)

1. Hate in Me
2. What They Lack
3. Never Turning
4. My Strength, My Weakness
5. Mirror
6. We Deny
7. Sorrow

• Hate in Me 7" (1988, Vermin Scum/Dancing Song)

1. Hate In Me
2. What They Lack
3. I'm Back Sleeping or Fucking or Something
4. Kiss The Girls and Make Them Die

• Mahpiua Luta 7" (1989, Vermin Scum)

1. The Life or This Grape’s Juice Drink
2. Kicks the Can

• Memorial 7" (1991, Vermin Scum)

1. Memorial
2. Moth

• Moss Icon/Silver Bearing split LP with Silver Bearing (1991, Vermin Scum)

1. Guatemala
2. Gravity
3. Familiar Presides
4. As Afterwards The Words Still Ring

• Lyburnum Wits End Liberation Fly LP (1994, Vermiform Records)
  • reissued in 1997 on CD with selected tracks from It Disappears as Lyburnum on Vermiform Records

1. Mirror
2. I'm Back Sleeping or Fucking or Something
3. The Life
4. Divinity Cove
5. Locket
6. Kick the Can
7. Lyburnum Wits End Liberation Fly
8. Cricketty Rise
9. As Afterwards The Words Still Ring
10. Happy (Unbounded Glory)

• It Disappears LP (1994, Ebullition Records/ Vermin Scum)

1. Guatemala
2. Memorial
3. Moth
4. Gravity
5. I'm Back Sleeping or Fucking or Something (Live)
6. It Disappears

Compilation appearances

• Panx Zine #3 compilation 7" - song "Mirror" (1988, Panx)
• Life is Change comp CD - song "Guatemala" (1991, Bari Beri)
• Superpowers cassette compilation - song "Sioux Day" (1992, Troubleman Unlimited)
• Powerless II comp LP - song "Divinity Cove" (1992)
• Fear of Smell comp LP - song "Excerpt From It Disappears" (1993, Vermiform)
• False Object Sensor comp LP/CD - song "Cornflower Blue" with The Hated (2001, Vermiform—also appears on The Hated "unreleased songs" bootleg LP)

Related bands

• Born Against - Tonie Joy
• Breathing Walker - Jonathan Vance, Mark Laurence, Monica DiGialleonardo, Tonie Joy, Alex Badertscher
• The Convocation Of... - Tonie Joy
• The Great Unraveling - Tonie Joy
• Jonathan Vance - Jonathan Vance
• Lava - Mark Laurence
• Universal Order of Armageddon - Tonie Joy

References

1. ^ http://altpress.com/apmag/240.htm

External links

• Moss Icon's official page
• Moss Icon - BandToBand.com
• Interview with Tonie Joy in RAW POGO ON THE SCAFFOLD zine (must scroll down to bottom of page to find interview)
• Review of the Hate In Me 7"
• Moss Icon's Official Myspace page
• Alternative Press July, 2008, Issue #240