Rites of Spring

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Rites of Spring
Country United States
Years active 1985
Genres Alternative rock, Post-hardcore, Emo
Labels Dischord Records
Members
Guy Picciotto
Eddie Janney
Michael Fellows
Brendan Canty


This article is about the band Rites of Spring. For the Igor Stravinsky ballet, see The Rite of Spring.

Rites of Spring was a hardcore punk rock band from Washington, D.C. in the mid-80s known for their intense live performances (which almost always consisted of the band destroying their instruments). They are credited with defining the musical subgenre known as emo.


[edit] Band

Following the band's dissolution, singer and guitarist Guy Picciotto, guitarist Eddie Janney, and drummer Brendan Canty formed One Last Wish with Embrace alumnus, guitarist Michael Hampton (Not to be confused with Michael Hampton, lead guitarist for Funkadelic). The three later joined former Rites bassist Mike Fellows for a quasi-reincarnation of Rites of Spring named Happy Go Licky, releasing an LP/CD of various live concert recordings though never producing any studio work. Picciotto and Canty eventually teamed up with bassist Joe Lally and former Minor Threat, Skewbald, Egg Hunt, and Embrace singer Ian MacKaye (co-owner of the band’s label, Dischord Records) in Fugazi. Mike Fellows went on to do session work for the Drag City label and form Miighty Flashlight.

[edit] Album

Rites of Spring was the band’s eponymous debut album from 1985. Its twelve songs were recorded at Inner Ear Studios in February of 1985, and released on vinyl in June of that year as Dischord Records #16. The album was re-released on CD and cassette in 1987, with an additional track from the same session, "Other Way Around," as well as the four songs from the Rites' follow-up EP, All Through a Life, Dischord #22. The CD and cassette originally retained the number "16" while the 1991 repress, as well as the 2001 remastered version of the same seventeen songs, were numbered "16CD" and given the new title End on End.

[edit] Recording details