I’ve recently been reading Lizzy Goodman’s 2017 book, Meet Me In The Bathroom. Goodman’s oral history of the NYC music scene follows the development of American rock and alternative music throughout the late nineties all the way to the late 2000s. With interviews from The Strokes, Interpol, LCD Soundsystem, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and more, the book is filled with anecdotes about many household names today. But more interestingly, the book includes the stories of many bands that didn’t make it. Like perhaps one the best-known-least-known bands in rock history, Jonathan Fire*Eater

With roughly 10,000 monthly listeners on Spotify, Jonathan Fire*Eater is essentially unknown to modern listeners. But their influence is felt in many of the more successful bands of the era, with Yeah Yeah Yeah’s Karen O citing their haphazard and theatrical performances as especially influential to her own way of performing and Interpol’s Paul Banks praising Jonathan Fire*Eater’s sense of style (that happens to be similar to that of early Interpols).

The members of Jonathan Fire*Eater grew up together, being in bands with each other since elementary school, and eventually moved from Washington DC to New York City together. While they started off in New York City for college, the members eventually found the band getting to be well-known and celebrated throughout the city, leading to all five dropping out. Produced through a strand of luck ( or an interested indie label) Jonathan Fire*Eater’s first EP, Tremble Under Boom Lights was released in 1996. The EP has distinct nods to the music of New York City with Velvet-Underground-inspired psychedelic guitar and true NYC punk vocals, but has a hint of melancholia that feels akin to a band like Joy Division. Stand-out songs include “Give Me Daughters” and “Winston Plum: Undertaker”.

Their EP was met with positive reviews, leading to a long period of labels courting them until they eventually signed with DreamWorks. But their next release, the 1997 album Wolf Songs For Lambs, did not find near the success of their EP. Wolf Songs For Lambs had a similar sound to Tremble Under Boom Lights, but felt less polished, leading to disappointment for many critics and fans. Yet, there are still some tracks that can’t be dismissed as they are pure magic, like “Station Coffee” and “This Is My Room”. But nonetheless, between poor advice from DreamWorks, inexperienced management, lead singer Stewart Lupton’s drug issues, and the overall inflated ego of the band, Jonathan Fire*Eater split in 1998.

Three of the five members created a new band, The Walkmen, which has found reasonable success and is still active today. Meanwhile, Lupton continued to write poetry and songs until his death in 2018. Lupton’s death and Goodman’s book brought some attention back to the band, leading to a vinyl rerelease of Tremble Under The Boom Lights and some coverage in The New York Times and Vanity Fair. But nothing substantial enough to bring about interest or listeners.

My newfound obsession with Jonathan Fire*Eater has left me feeling scorned on their behalf. How does a band that serves as a precursor to The Strokes, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and Interpol find themselves irrelevant to most alternative rock listeners today? Their music is not at fault, it’s accessible, unique but familiar, and a clever twist on post-punk revival. And while their short catalog is unfortunate, it gives listeners mostly high-quality music that isn’t brought down by filler songs and misunderstanding outsider producers. While their history is unfortunate, drugs and egos haven’t stopped listeners from listening to the majority of other rock bands.

And so I’m calling for a Jonathan Fire*Eater resurgence. Here are my favorite Jonathan Fire*Eater picks. I hope you enjoy them or even just appreciate them or at least understand what I’m trying to say.