| Moss Icon | |
| Background: | group_or_band |
| Caption: | Moss Icon in 1986 |
| Origin: | Annapolis, Maryland, United States |
| Years Active: | 1986–1991, 2001, 2007–present |
| Label: | Vermiform, Vermin Scum, Ebullition, Temporary Residence Limited |
| Current Members: | Jonathan Vance Tonie Joy Alex Badertscher Zak Fusciello |
| Past Members: | Monica DiGialleonardo Mark Laurence |
Moss Icon is an American post-hardcore band formed in late 1986 in Annapolis, Maryland, United States. Its original lineup comprised vocalist Jonathan Vance, guitarist Tonie Joy, bassist Monica DiGialleonardo, and drummer Mark Laurence. Alex Badertscher joined as second guitarist in 1990. Moss Icon is considered to be an early influence on the hardcore punk splinter genre known as post-hardcore, as well as on the eventual development of emo, although the band members themselves have repeatedly denied knowingly contributing to the latter genre in any way.[1]
The band's identifying characteristics, and those that distinguished them from their contemporaries, included noticeable and abrupt transitions from loud to quiet, and Vance's esoteric, stream of conscious lyrical content. Earlier recordings of the band are reminiscent of early Joy Division, while later songs embodied a less blunt approach with more exploratory arrangements and riffage.[2] Vance's lyrics touched upon vaguely, among other issues, the plight of indigenous peoples of the Americas, and opposed the U.S. government's involvement in Nicaragua and Guatemala.
The band played frequently with fellow Annapolis band The Hated. Moss Icon recorded their debut 7", "Hate in Me", in January 1988, and entered the studio several months later to record their second 7", "Mahpiua Luta". Their Lyburnum Wits End Liberation Fly LP was recorded by Les Lentz (who engineered all of their studio recordings) throughout 1988 but was not released until mid-1994, three years after the band's break-up, by Vermiform Records. Moss Icon's third 7", entitled "Memorial", was recorded in January 1991 along with a split LP with Silver Bearing. In 1994 Ebullition Records released the It Disappears LP, compiling songs from "Memorial" with live versions of several songs.
In 1990 a splinter project of Moss Icon was formed called Breathing Walker, containing all four members of Moss Icon plus Alex Badertscher on bass, Zak Fusciello on percussion, and Tim Horner on violin. Breathing Walker released a cassette that was re-released on vinyl and CD in 2001 by the Vermin Scum label, along with live tracks.
After the dissolution of Moss Icon, guitarist Tonie Joy was a member of the bands Universal Order of Armageddon, Born Against, and The Convocation Of.... (later christened The Convocation). Other band members were less involved in music, excepting Laurence's drums in Lava, DiGialleonardo's Blue Condors, and Vance's solo debut LP.
Moss Icon reunited to play two shows with Zak Fusciello on drums, one at the 2001 More Than Music Fest in Columbus, Ohio[3] and the other at the renovated Charles Theatre in Baltimore, Maryland.
In July 2008, Moss Icon was named one of the "23 Bands Who Shaped Punk" by Alternative Press magazine in issue No. 240. Vance's first officially released book Tulip Has a Room was published by Easysubcult.[4]
Since 2007 Joy, Vance, Zak Fusciello, and Alex Badertscher have been occasionally working on new material in Baltimore, MD for a possible new recording. A discography was released in May 2012 on Temporary Residence Limited which featured two discs, photos and lyrics. The band also played a couple live shows (NYC and Washington DC) in December 2014.
Although neither Tonie Joy nor Jonathan Vance recall the specifics of how they discovered the iconic image for their full length Lyburnum Wits End Liberation Fly LP, its origin can be traced to a 1971 Scientific American article, which includes an illustration depicting a figure of a warrior modeled in clay is from the final period of occupation at Tepe Yahyii, when a Sassanian military outpost stood on the top of the mound from sometime in the third century B.C. to about A.D. 400. Thereafter only nomads visited the dead city." Tepe Yahya, midway between Mesopotania and India, was a busy center of trade 5,500 years ago. An outpost of Mesopotanlian urban culture, it played a key role in the spread of civilization from west to east.[5]