Giants Chair Hot Boy Caulfied Records 1993

Giants Chair Hot Boy Caulfied Records 1993 NO CAT#

This, in the history of obscure KC related 45s, is up there at the top of the list. At the time of it's release in 1993, Giants Chair was still holding fort in Green Bay, Wisconsin. They hadn't come down to the Kansas City Art Institute and weren't well, art-damaged yet. This 7" is just some kids trying to make a record.

The songs featured here, "Commoncold" and "Weed Roses" aren't as filled with left turns and all the indie-rock tendencies bands draw themselves into. It's not better or worse for it, it's just a little more simple than what they'd go onto to do later. It's still aggressive, still has start-stop dynamics, but it's a clearer where they were taking you on the tunes. Also, on a side note, Giant's Chair was never an "emo" band, they came before it, but man, this sounds super-emo, especially "Weed Roses."

Hot Boy 7"

Giant's Chair Purity And Control Caulfield 1995

Giant's Chair Purity And Control Caulfield 1996 CAT# CR022

Had to hustle for this one, man.  This cost more than I'd like to admit, but it's so worth it.  A year after Red And Clear was released the band put together this album.  You can find abundant praise for their debut, but for whatever reason, Purity And Control, likely due to it's scarcity, doesn't get the same amount of mentions.  However, the obscure post-hardcore and emo blogs that do mention the album are high on it.

Despite the lack of info surrounding the release, those that do cite it are right to highly regard it.  Purity And Control is much more focused and dynamic than it's predecessor.  Moments on Red And Clear can sound a bit scrambled and overly excited.  This album as it's namesake suggests, is controlled.  The band doesn't run off on tangents and keeps it's focus.  The main reason the band is cited as emo pioneers is due to what you hear on this recording.  It's still jagged and edgy, but, Hobart's does throw down some emotive vocals.  Further, the band builds into the dynamics rather than employing start/stop dynamics (mostly, they don't abandon it completely).  To point out more emo cred, long before it was vogue and when Conor Oberst was 15 years old and just brimming on genius, Giant's Chair recorded tracks at Whoopass Studios with AJ and Mike Moogis

The album was primarily recorded in KC.  Hammer Press did the jackets, vinyl just shows the braille pattern, if I'm not mistaken the CD liner has actual braille type you can feel across.  The song "Ballad of Jody Hamilton" brings light to this artwork as it is a spoken word piece about a blind writer, it's pretty Velvet Underground-esq and has nothing to do with the word emo.  All told, it's a phenomenal album and highly recommended if you can track down a copy.  Even the CD is non-existent so below is a link to the full album, I don't think the band will mind at this point.

Full Album

Giant's Chair Red And Clear Caulfield 1995

Giant's Chair Red And Clear Caulfield 1995 CAT # 15

This came out in 1995 and at the time, the group was best described as post-Hardcore.  Similar to other Kansas City bands such as Shiner, Season To Risk, and Molly McGuire, but with a high art value.  By the time the band called it quits, they had become a fairly influential and highly regarded as Emo pioneers.

I think the "emo" tag is mostly due to association with the Nebraska label Caulfield that released most the band's catalog.  Caulfield put out Denver band, Christie Front Drive, who were favorites within that scene.  At that time, indie labels were still thought of as a brand.  For example, you'd buy the Christie Front Drive CD, LP, or 7" and you'd get a small catalog of the labels other releases.  Each album would have a short blurb about how great it was and at some point, you couldn't resist, you started buying other stuff the label put out.  See Sub Pop and Dischord, those labels were brands and worked it to great success.  Caulfield was the same way on an even smaller scale and Kansas City's Giant's Chair was one of the first acts the label put out.

Ultimately, Christie Front Drive with their mumbled lyrics and 3 minute intros were very much an emo band.  Giant's Chair, not so much.  However, due to their popularity within the scene, many later bands began grabbing ideas from them.

Either way, they're a pretty phenomenal band and still sound amazing today.  I believe I'm correct when I say they formed as students at the Kansas City Art Institute.  Very much in the Quicksand realm of post-Hardcore, start stop dynamics, lots of guitar, sing to scream choruses.  They do throw in the high art value by concentrating on dynamics rather than volume.  Like Boys Life, they also loved to drop out of tune for effect.  I always loved how their songs would hang on an idea, like a choppy guitar riff for 30 seconds to a minute, before charging on into a totally different direction.  "Kick the Can" has always been one of my faves on the album and represents the group well and provides insight as to why everyone considers them "Emo".  "Full on Flat White" does as well and since I couldn't find "Kick the Can" on YouTube, it's linked below.

Full On Flat White