This is the website of Joey Arak.

Artist: The Promise Ring
Song: “A Picture Postcard”

In the way-too-long Cap’n Jazz post, I mentioned the C’nJ guitarist who harbored his own frontman desires and who had a more pop sensibility. That dude was Davey von Bohlen, who formed the Promise Ring after the break-up of Cap’n Jazz. For some reason, I could never get into the Promise Ring with the same passion and fervor I had for Cap’n Jazz, or Tim Kinsella’s follow-up band Joan of Arc. But the Promise Ring had some hits, and they were huge. Well, huge in terms of emo bands in the mid-to-late-’90s, which basically means they made a proper video. The Promise Ring successfully shifted emo from the post-hardcore sound to a more pop-rock structure, and therefore is the major influences of the “emo” (yeah, I fucking air-quoted that shit) bands of today.

It’s slightly unfair of me to post a video for the sappiest song the Promise Ring ever recorded, but c’mon, it’s Valentine’s Day! There are actually two big reasons I went with this particular clip, even though there are countless other clips of the band performing this song recorded at much better quality. 1) This one was from a show in Florida, my home state. 2) According to the “About this Video” notes, this show was in 1998 when the Promise Ring was touring with Jimmy Eat World, meaning this show featured two of the three biggest emo bands in the world at that time on one bill (the other being the Get Up Kids, of course). The Promise Ring has since broken up, reunited, broken up again and moved on to other bands like Vermont and—currently—Maritime. A lot of history, but the 1996 debut album, 30-degrees Everywhere, will always be the best and most important tear-maker von Bohlen ever records.

An Emo Video Every Day This Week: Day 1 [ja.com]
An Emo Video Every Day This Week: Day 2 [ja.com]
An Emo Video Every Day This Week: Day 3 [ja.com]