Schwarzenbach is best known for his tenure in bay-area punk legends Jawbreaker. Jawbreaker brought detailed lyricism and a knack for songwriting into the pop-punk genre. Through endless touring and a handful of fantastic albums they won over punk fans across the country and spawned a plethora of followers. From Schwarzenbach's voice and cynicism to the band's shifting tempos and moods, contemporary punk owes much to Jawbreaker.
The End of Jawbreaker
The band were one of many punk acts scooped up by a major label in the wake of Green Day's success. Unfortunately their major label debut flopped and because Schwarzenbach couldn't handle the criticism of long-time fans that saw the group as sell outs, Jawbreaker called it quits.
Jets to Brazil
Following his time in Jawbreaker Schwarzenbach started the much more toned down Jets to Brazil, a band that continued to show off Schwarzenbach's skills at penning lyrics while using a more diverse indie rock pallet. Here Schwarzenbach showed that he was a talented songwriter, not just a talented "punk" songwriter. His new songs were often sprawling and textured soundscapes that allowed him room to deliver his poetic takes on life. That band managed to put out three albums on Delaware label Jade Tree before they also called it quits.
Thorns of Life
Schwarzenbach's latest band sports him on guitar and vocals, Aaron Elliot of seminal punk acts Crimpshine and Pinhead Gunpowder on drums, and Daniela Sea on bass. No website or MySpace has been set up for the band as of yet and details have been very limited on the band's activities. All that has hit the internet thus far is a few videos from the band's first show.
Thorns of Life Live November 9th, 2008 at The Jerk House
On November 9th Thorns of Life played their first show at the Jerk House in Sunset Park, and lucky for Schwarzenbach fans someone recorded part of the show, which can be found here. For those keeping score the new band does recall Jawbreaker more than Jets to Brazil.
The songs are up-tempo, palm-muted ditties that even despite poor sound quality sound like Schwarzenbach hasn't lost his touch. His signature gravelly tone is skill also present and seems adequately situated to the raucous house party that is brewing around him. The video is on the shaky side and doesn't provide many views of Blake himself, but for fans it should be enough to tide you over until some songs get posted online.
