This is the website of Joey Arak.

Artist: Mineral
Song: “Gloria”

I remember sending away $10 to Crank! Records for a Mineral T-shirt in 1999. It was navy blue, with an illustration of a little boy’s and little girl’s faces and “mineral” (all lower case, ‘natch) on the bottom. I’m pretty sure my buddy Robyn only befriended me because the first time she met me I walked into the cafeteria of Warren Towers at BU wearing that shirt. Man, that shirt was awesome. I think I can admit that having that shirt actually made me like Mineral more than I probably actually should have. I wore it until about 2004, and now I have no clue where it is. Lost during the chaos of a T-shirt purge, most likely.

Ah yes, the band. Mineral was different than a lot of the other emo bands I was listening to, because they weren’t from the the Midwest or Gainesville. They were from Texas, making them forefathers to the Teemo scene. I just made Teemo up, but it sounds legit, right? Mineral were masters of the loud-quiet-loud songwriting scheme, and Chris Simpson’s voice definitely tailored to the whole emo thing. It was like pure mope translated to soundwaves. And those lyrics! There are only a couple of live Mineral videos floating around YouTube, both shot at Emo’s (har!) in Austin in 1998, which would put the timing of the show just before the band broke up. The quality looks like something smuggled out of Czechoslovakia during the Cold War, but for some reason, I feel like Mineral wouldn’t have it any other way. Also, please note that—once again, in typical emo fashion—the bassist again does not face the crowd during the performance.

An Emo Video Every Day This Week: Day 1 [ja.com]
An Emo Video Every Day This Week: Day 2 [ja.com]