High Back Chairs | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Washington D.C. |
| Genres | Power Pop, Indie Rock |
| Years active | 1989–1993 |
| Labels | Dischord Records |
| Past members | Jeff Nelson Peter Hayes Charles Steck Jim Spellman Charles Bennington |
| Website | https://highbackchairs.bandcamp.com |
The High Back Chairs was a band from Washington, DC. Initially consisting of guitarist/vocalist Peter Hayes, guitarist Jim Spellman, bassist/vocalist Charles Steck, and drummer/vocalist Jeff Nelson, the group released its music on the Washington, D.C. punk record label, Dischord Records.[1] The band eschewed the post-hardcore and hardcore punk sounds that Dischord was known for. Instead, the High-Back Chairs' music was highly melodic indie rock, owing more to power pop and jangle pop than to the band's punk rock roots.[2] This was all the more notable since Nelson was a co-founder of Dischord and had played in the influential hardcore punk band, Minor Threat from 1980 to 1983. "Coming out at a time when grunge held a lot of sway in Amerindie land," Trouser Press later said of the band, "this breezy, supremely melodic, gutsy rock seemed almost noble."[3]