DC Rocks Again: Jawbox Reunion Confirmed, One Night Only?

jbx photo via DeSoto Records. Thanks.

So, like most late-night hosts, Jimmy Fallon might not be very funny (sorry), but you have to give the guy credit for putting together  cool reunions.

While the Saved by the Bell redux was amusing and creepy, we’re much more excited about Fallon’s latest announcement: The on-air reunion of a classic DC rock band that hasn’t played a note together in 12 years: drumroll, please…it’s time to welcome back Jawbox! (video, below)

Along with Fugazi, Jawbox helped define the DC sound of the late-’80s and ’90s with sharp guitars, deadpan vocals, hyper-literate lyrics and just enough ear-smashing volume to let you know they were serious.

The group called it quits after recording a pair of underrated albums for Atlantic Records, making them one of the most unlikely indie-turned-major stories of the decade, thanks to the post-Nirvana harvesting of the scene by overenthusiastic/soon-to-be-unemployed A&R guys.

Music fans not familiar with Jawbox directly have almost certainly heard one of the many bands influenced by this group, as well as some of the bands whose albums were produced or engineered by Jawbox singer/guitarist J. Robbins (Promise Ring, Clutch, Jimmy Eat World, Against Me!, mewithoutyou, Jawbreaker, etc., etc.)

Welcome back, we missed you.

We hope this will turn into a full-on reunion tour, but for now the band is really just coming out of oblivion to pimp the snazzy new re-release of one of its long out-of-print albums, 1994’s spectacular For Your Own Special Sweetheart (which you should buy immediately upon its 11/23 re-release if you don’t already own it—or even if you do).

From Fallon’s page:

Big news music fans!!! Legendary Washington DC rock band Jawbox will be reuniting and performing right here on Late Night!! What the what??!!!??

Our sentiments, exactly.

The show tapes 12/8…do you think it’s too soon to line up for tickets? Maybe…

This is officially better than Christmas.

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BELOW: A strange Jawbox video that actually got played on MTV way back when…Ah, the ’90s. Plus, if you’re wondering what to buy that someone special for a birthday present, this video has lots of creepy ideas.