Be not misled by the mildly unfortunate band name, as moshy hardcore is something that this outfit never offered (thankfully), despite what such an initial moniker may suggest. No, in fact this Indiana band is responsible for a few of my favorite records of all time when it comes to the general spectrum of emo/indie rock. What started out as a somewhat typical (Straightedge?) hardcore band that was mediocre at best quickly blossomed into something so much more. Their debut full-length, "For the Love of the Wounded", solidified them as an incredibly talented group, whose use of melody, emotion, and a very creative sense of songwriting (comparable to none, in my opinion) kept them only at the loose peripheries of the hardcore scene—making for what is definitely an underrated classic of the emo genre in the process. Their second effort in 1995, "Fate's Got a Driver", was a bit more popular in its slightly more laidback and rocked out style. An absolutely brilliant album, no question, but I'll never forget how blown away I was by "For the Love of the Wounded", which remains my favorite to this day.
At some point post-1995 they re-recorded some of the vocals and guitars and reissued "Fate's Got a Driver" under the more fitting band name of Chamberlain (in my opinion the Split Lip version of the disc is better, though), signaling significant changes to come. I caught the band live sometime after this initial spark of change and was absolutely horrified by what had become an extremely John Cougar Mellencamp sounding direction, and over the course of a few more albums and some lineup changes they definitely lost me along the way. Though I have to admit, I still own every one of their records, and with time I've grown to appreciate 'em all. At the same time, however, those last few years of activity under the Split Lip banner were absolutely stunning, and remain among my most cherished listening moments. Every song on both of those records is a keeper, which is definitely saying something considering the variety exhibited throughout.
Split Lip "Show and Tell"
Split Lip "Division Street"
Luckily this one's still really easy to grab. If you do, worth noting is that there are tons of fuckups in the layout. The song "Box" that's listed in the booklet and on the traycard isn't on the CD, nor is the song "Hat" whose lyrics appear in the booklet but is absent from the tracklist, but there is an amazing untitled (and unlisted) acoustic instrumental, so screw it:
Comments
i celebrate thier entire catalog
maybe cause the first thing i heard was the moon, my saddle
5.13.2005 | By DanSullivan
dude chamberlain was weak the best thing this band ever released was the first 7” ... the drummer was absolutely psycho back then
8.10.2005 | By Anonymous
My band toured with them and we grew up together.
1.16.2006 | By Kyle
“Box” is on the LP version of this. I don’t think “Hat” is actually supposed to be a song since in the insert it’s credited to the writer Tomasz Jastrun.
Anyway.. I think most of that early ‘90s emo stuff sounds pretty dated and bad nowadays, but I’ve always loved this record. The songwriting is definitely pretty next level for the genre.
7.14.2006 | By mark p.