Drive Like Jehu | |
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 Rick Froberg (left) and John Reis (right) performing with Drive Like Jehu | |
| Background information | |
| Origin | San Diego,California, U.S. |
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| Years active |
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| Past members |
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| Website | drive-like-jehu |
Drive Like Jehu was an Americanpost-hardcore band fromSan Diego active from 1990 to 1995 and later from 2014 to 2016. It was formed byrhythm guitarist and vocalistRick Froberg andlead guitaristJohn Reis, ex-members of the bandPitchfork, along with bassist Mike Kennedy and drummerMark Trombino, both from Night Soil Man, after their two bands disbanded in 1990. Drive Like Jehu's music was characterized by passionate singing, unusual song structure, indirect melodic themes, intricate guitar playing, and calculated use of tension, resulting in a distinctive sound amongst other post-hardcore acts and helped to catalyze the evolution ofhardcore punk intoemo.[1] The origin of the name “Drive Like Jehu” is likely from the Old Testament, specially 2 Kings 9:20.
After releasing theireponymous debut in 1991 through local record labelsCargo Music andHeadhunter Records, Drive Like Jehu signed to major labelInterscope Records along with Reis's other bandRocket from the Crypt. Their second album, 1994'sYank Crime, gained acult following, but the group disbanded shortly afterward.[1] Reis continued with Rocket from the Crypt and Trombino became a successfulrecord producer andaudio engineer, while Froberg and Kennedy pursued careers outside of music.[1] In 1999, Reis and Froberg began playing together again inHot Snakes, which was active from 1999 to 2005 and again from 2011 until Froberg's death in 2023. Reis also re-releasedYank Crime through hisSwami Records label.[1]
Prior to forming Drive Like Jehu, vocalistRick Froberg and guitaristJohn Reis had played together inPitchfork from 1986 to 1990,[1][4] while bassist Mike Kennedy and drummerMark Trombino played in Night Soil Man from 1987 to 1990.[5] Both bands performed several times together and respected each other.[6] Pitchfork disbanded due to creative differences and their original bassist, Don Ankrom, relocating to San Francisco; shortly afterwards Night Soil Man broke up as well for undisclosed personal reasons.[7] John Reis began hanging out with Kennedy and discovered their mutual admiration forRichmond, Virginia punk band Honor Role.[8] Honor Role guitarist Pen Rollings influenced Reis deeply because his style was "very soulful" and had "personality" despite being a punk guitarist. Thus, he started playing guitar alone for many hours, trying to "merge himself" with the instrument.[9] In 1990, Reis simultaneously formed the "self-proclaimed party band"Rocket from the Crypt and, around one month later, he recruited Froberg (who was also an Honor Role fan), Kennedy and drummerChris Bratton to form Drive Like Jehu in August 1990. They had around five songs finished but the relationship with Bratton "didn't work out" and he was replaced by former Night Soil Man drummer Mark Trombino.[1][10] The band's name was derived from the biblical story ofJehu in theBooks of Kings:[1]
And the watchman told, saying, He came even unto them, and cometh not again: and the driving [is] like the driving of Jehu the son of Nimshi; for he driveth furiously.
— 2 Kings 9:20[4]
While Froberg had sung in Pitchfork, in Drive Like Jehu he also played guitar, adding arhythm guitar to Reis'lead. Most of the songs started with Reis' guitar ideas and the whole band developed them throughjam sessions.[11] Drive Like Jehu'seponymous debut album was released in 1991 throughCargo Music andHeadhunter Records, simultaneous with Rocket from the Crypt's debutPaint as a Fragrance.[1] Produced byDonnell Cameron and with artwork by Froberg, it was praised as "a quantum leap forward" from Reis and Froberg's work in Pitchfork.[12] In 1992 Drive Like Jehu released thesingle "Hand Over Fist"/"Bullet Train to Vegas" throughMerge Records and the song "Sinews" on the Cargo/Headhuntercompilation albumHead Start to Purgatory.[1][4]
Interscope Records, interested in Drive Like Jehu, pursued the band and wound up signing both them and Rocket From the Crypt.[13] Drive Like Jehu released an album first, putting outYank Crime in 1994.[1] Engineered and mixed by Trombino, and again with artwork by Froberg, it had some longer, more complex songs and was described by critics as an "uncompromising maelstrom of technically intricate fury" and "as worthy and awesome as its predecessor".[1][14]
In 1995 Drive Like Jehu disbanded, partly so that Reis could concentrate on Rocket from the Crypt, who put out three releases that year and continued until 2005.[1] Drive Like Jehu never officially announced a breakup, but simply stopped playing together.[15] Trombino became a successfulrecord producer andaudio engineer, working with bands such asBlink-182 andJimmy Eat World, while Kennedy left music to become achemist.[1] Froberg briefly played inThingy before moving toNew York City to pursue a career as a visual artist and illustrator, later reuniting with Reis in theHot Snakes from 1999 to 2005.[1] In November 2002 Reis re-releasedYank Crime through hisSwami Records label, including on it the tracks from "Hand Over Fist" / "Bullet Train to Vegas" and "Sinews" fromHead Start to Purgatory.[1][4] Reis currently performs inThe Night Marchers, Froberg inObits, and together they perform asHot Snakes.
On August 31, 2014, Drive Like Jehu reunited for a performance at theSpreckels Organ Pavilion in San Diego'sBalboa Park, accompanied by San Diego Civic OrganistDr. Carol Williams.[16][17] The collaboration was facilitated by Dang Nguyen, who co-owns Bar Pink in San Diego'sNorth Park neighborhood with Reis and sits on the Spreckels Organ Society board of directors.[16] "In February or March [2014], we discussed possibilities and the topic of Jehu came up; that's where it started," said Nguyen. "It was a project they wanted to bring back together. Because, after Hot Snakes and Rocket [from the Crypt] reunited in the last couple of years, I think John and Rick felt that to do something at the organ pavilion was worth getting back together for."[16] Reis expressed enthusiasm for the organ's sound, saying "I especially love the way the low-end sound on the organ is so massive. When I go see organ concerts in the park, I want to collaborate with that sound and with Carol. It's not necessarily a 'good idea,' but it's an idea I feel strongly about, and it's such a San Diego thing."[16] According to Williams, "the point of the concert is to open up the (musical) boundaries, not to be narrow. The organ needs a future and any opportunities like this, I really look forward to."[16]
The novelty of playing with the accompaniment of the organ was a key factor in bringing the band back together. "The weird thing is that we are playing, and that it took something this weird for us to decide to play a couple of songs again," said Reis. "Only two of us live in San Diego; [Rick] lives in New York and [Mark]'s in Los Angeles. [Mark and Mike] pretty much haven't played music since Jehu or since shortly thereafter. Mark didn't even have a drum set until earlier this year, and he bought one specifically for us to play with the organ."[16] The band played a set of five songs: "Do You Compute", "Super Unison", "Sinews", "If It Kills You", and "Luau".[17]Rob Crow, who sang backing vocals on "Luau" onYank Crime, joined them onstage during the song to sing his parts.[17]
Drive Like Jehu scheduled a series of performances for 2015, including April 7 and 14 at The Casbah in San Diego, California, April 8 inPomona, California; April 11 and 18 inIndio, California at theCoachella Valley Music and Arts Festival; and July 3 inKeflavík, Iceland at theAll Tomorrow's Parties festival.[18][19][20] On October 18, 2015, Drive Like Jehu performed on the Tunnel Stage at the Treasure Island Music Festival in San Francisco. The band continued to tour in 2016, concluding their reunion tour and effectively ending the reunion in August 2016.
Rick Froberg died of natural causes on June 30, 2023.[21]
Drive Like Jehu's music is often classified aspunk,[22]post-hardcore, andemo.[1][4][12][14] Their initial biggest influence was punk band Honor Role, particularly its guitarist Pen Rollings.[23] Other influences includedMission of Burma,the Gories,[24]Bastro,Slint,Sonic Youth, theWipers, andkrautrock bands such asNeu![25] Steve Huey ofAllmusic calls them "arguably the most progressive of the leading post-hardcore bands: their lengthy, multisectioned compositions were filled with odd time signatures, orchestrated builds and releases, elliptical melodies, and other twists and turns that built on the innovations of theDischord label. The result was one of the most distinctive and ferocious sounds in the loosely defined post-hardcore movement."[1]
Next to contemporaries such asFugazi andQuicksand, Drive Like Jehu was sometimes overlooked and their music was sometimes difficult for critics to place in a broader context.[1] According to Huey, the band was influential to the development of emo even though the style's later sound was quite different from Drive Like Jehu's: "The term 'emo' hadn't yet come into wider use, and while Drive Like Jehu didn't much resemble the sound that word would later come to signify, they exerted a powerful pull on its development. Moreover, they did fit the earlier definition of emo: challenging, intricate guitar rock rooted in hardcore and performed with blistering intensity, especially the frenzied vocals."[1] Allmusic's Ned Raggett also commented on the emo connection in his review ofYank Crime: "Perhaps even more than the debut,Yank Crime solidified Drive Like Jehu's reputation as kings of emo. While use of that term rapidly degenerated to apply to sappy miserableness by the decade's end, here the quartet capture its original sense: wired, frenetic, screaming passion, as first semi-created by the likes ofRites of Spring."[14] Brendan Reid ofPitchfork Media also notes that "It's often easy to forget that DLJ were considered emo in their day; Froberg's howls of 'Ready, ready to let you in!' on 'Super Unison' seem like a sick parody of stylish vulnerability. Then the song mutates into a gorgeous, snare-drum rolling open sea, and everything you've ever liked (and still like) about this genre in its purest form comes flooding back."[4]
At the Drive-In frontmanCedric Bixler-Zavala stated that "there would be noRelationship of Command without Drive Like Jehu."[26] He declared: "I remember doing a lot of English press and people being like, 'We think you guys are exotic, the names of the songs and flannel and look is exotic.' I definitely knew what school we came from, and that people like Hot Snakes and Drive Like Jehu were our strongest influences, but they weren’t exactly huge in Europe."[27]Isaac Brock of the indie rock bandModest Mouse said in 2007: "I love [Drive Like] Jehu. Jehu is one of my favorite all-time bands actually."[28]Deftones covered their song "Caress" on their2011 cover album.[29]Brian Cook, bassist for the metalcore bandBotch, stated that “Drive Like Jehu was a huge influence on Botch; their writing approach definitely mirrored what we did in terms of banging things out till we had a song."[30] British hardcore punk groupGallows were also inspired by them and Laurent Barnard singled out John Reis as one of his five favorite guitarists.[31][32]The Blood Brothers vocalistJordan Blilie described Rick Froberg's lyrics in the band as "equal parts perplexing and relatable" and called his voice "one of my all-time favorites". He added that the early guitar playing of his own group can be mostly traced back to Jehu.[33] Other artists who have cited them as an influence or expressed admiration for their work areThursday,[34]Jim Adkins ofJimmy Eat World,[35]Justin Pearson ofThe Locust,[36][37]Ben Weinman ofThe Dillinger Escape Plan,[38]Matt Pryor ofThe Get Up Kids,[39]J. Clark ofPretty Girls Make Graves,[40]Violent Soho,[41][42]Unbroken,[43]Akimbo andSandrider,[44][45][46]KEN Mode,[47]METZ,[48][49] Matthew Bajda ofFuneral Diner,[50] Bryan Giles ofRed Fang,[51] Steven Roche ofOff Minor[52] andGenghis Tron.[53] Bay Area hardcore bandSuper Unison named itself after the Drive Like Jehu song.
| Drive Like Jehu discography | |
|---|---|
| Studio albums | 2 |
| Singles | 1 |
| Other appearances | 1 |
Thediscography of Drive Like Jehu consists of twostudio albums and onesingle.
| Year | Album details |
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| 1991 | Drive Like Jehu[12]
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| 1994 | Yank Crime[14]
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| Year | Single details |
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| 1992 | "Hand Over Fist" / "Bullet Train to Vegas"[54] |
The following Drive Like Jehu songs were released on compilation albums. This is not an exhaustive list; songs that were first released on the band's albums are not included.
| Year | Release details | Track |
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| 1992 | Head Start to Purgatory[55]
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Geoff Rickly: Drive Like Jehu and Fugazi were the two bands we all agreed on when we started Thursday.
Number one would be Drive Like Jehu. It's John Reis again! And it's no holds barred. It's kind of like Fugazi in the sense that it challenges you with dissonance and forces you to really reckon with what's being presenting. When you feature guitar in your music you're playing on a pedestal and giving it a spotlight; that's the way it's always been done from blues through to rock and metal. But with Drive Like Jehu, he and Froberg are also showcasing confrontation, and from an art appreciation standpoint it's really engaging. The energy behind it is so punk rock and it's very cerebral the way the two things mix together. They're my all-time favourite guitar band.
The front half has an almost Latin feel, then it gets so quiet until the chaotic and tense outro. My guitar is attempting to channel Drive Like Jehu.
Jay Clark, former guitar player forKill Sadie and current guitarist for Pretty Girls Make Graves, explains his obsession with Drive Like Jehu. 'The first time I realized how great they were was when I was in high school, in study hall, and I was listening toYank Crime while I was napping. I was kind of in and out of consciousness but the sound was really amazing, I'd never heard anything like it before. For three years I listened to that record every day. They were a big deal to me and a huge influence on the way I play guitar.'
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