Biography
Right after Jawbox dissolved in April 1997, J. Robbins launched into new songwriting and rehearsals with drummer Peter Moffett, his former bandmate from both Wool and Government Issue. When the bassist skipped a practice, Robbins recruited ex-Jawbox guitarist and vocalist Bill Barbot to handle bass instead. By late 1998 the newly formed Burning Airlines—whose name came from a Brian Eno song—had already placed a debut single and a split release with Braid in independent record stores.
The group paused its demanding tour calendar long enough to track Mission: Control!, which DeSoto issued in early 1999. The label was operated by former Jawbox bassist Kim Coletta and her husband Barbot. Sharper and more streamlined than Jawbox’s arrangements, the album carried echoes of early XTC and the Pixies while preserving the Mission of Burma and Gang of Four roots that had shaped Jawbox; Robbins also shifted toward more straightforward songwriting, abandoning earlier coded or fragmented approaches.
As the band prepared to tour behind the well-received album, Barbot concluded that his growing adult obligations ruled out further travel. Mike Harbin, a longtime Jawbox road associate, stepped in and integrated immediately, supporting an eighteen-month stretch of dates across the United States, Japan, Europe, and Canada.
Robbins’s rising profile as a producer kept the trio out of the studio until mid-2000. Over the next six months they completed the denser-sounding Identikit, released in May 2001. Shortly before the album appeared, D.C.-scene veteran Ben Pape joined on keyboards and guitar, turning the band into a quartet and freeing Robbins from constant instrumental multitasking onstage. Mounting outside commitments, especially Robbins’s production workload, prompted the group to disband in 2002.
The group paused its demanding tour calendar long enough to track Mission: Control!, which DeSoto issued in early 1999. The label was operated by former Jawbox bassist Kim Coletta and her husband Barbot. Sharper and more streamlined than Jawbox’s arrangements, the album carried echoes of early XTC and the Pixies while preserving the Mission of Burma and Gang of Four roots that had shaped Jawbox; Robbins also shifted toward more straightforward songwriting, abandoning earlier coded or fragmented approaches.
As the band prepared to tour behind the well-received album, Barbot concluded that his growing adult obligations ruled out further travel. Mike Harbin, a longtime Jawbox road associate, stepped in and integrated immediately, supporting an eighteen-month stretch of dates across the United States, Japan, Europe, and Canada.
Robbins’s rising profile as a producer kept the trio out of the studio until mid-2000. Over the next six months they completed the denser-sounding Identikit, released in May 2001. Shortly before the album appeared, D.C.-scene veteran Ben Pape joined on keyboards and guitar, turning the band into a quartet and freeing Robbins from constant instrumental multitasking onstage. Mounting outside commitments, especially Robbins’s production workload, prompted the group to disband in 2002.
Albums
