Biography
Moss Icon ranked among the earliest acts to explore emo, yet their output stayed far more elusive than innovative, circulating primarily among devoted collectors and chroniclers of underground scenes. Their approach—marked by fluctuating intensities, ringing guitar arpeggios, and vocal peaks that veered into screams and sobs—whether through direct influence or mere anticipation, supplied a foundational model for much of the emocore that emerged afterward. Like numerous emocore outfits of the late 1980s, the group led an erratic life shaped partly by the youth of its members, resulting in only intermittent performances and recordings interspersed with frequent periods of inactivity. Their initial full-length CD surfaced years after the breakup, long after scattered tracks had appeared on tiny independent imprints, so that even as emo gained wider attention and prompted more frequent references to the band, Moss Icon stayed largely enigmatic to outsiders.
The quartet formed in Annapolis, Maryland, during 1986 while its members were still attending high school. Guitarist Tonie Joy, singer Jonathan Vance, bassist Monica DiGialleonardo, and drummer Mark Laurence delivered their debut performance under the Moss Icon name in the summer of 1987. Early the following year they released the 7-inch “Hate in Me,” also known as “Greta Garbo,” on Vermin Scum, the modest label Joy helped establish alongside participants from the local Annapolis band the Hated. Their second 7-inch, Mahpiua Luta, arrived in 1989, after which the group alternated between brief rehearsal bursts and stretches of dormancy. Between 1989 and 1990 Vance and Laurence joined guitarist Alex Badertscher in the side project Breathing Walker, which eventually incorporated both Joy and DiGialleonardo; Badertscher later became Moss Icon’s second guitarist in time to record the 1990 single “Memorial.”
The band persisted for roughly another year, issuing a split LP with Silver Bearing and attempting a full-length album whose first sessions were scrapped before later being redone. That album remained unavailable throughout the group’s lifespan and finally reached vinyl in 1994 via the Vermiform label under the title Lyburnum, also known as Lyburnum Wit's End Liberation Fly. In 1995 Ebullition and Vermin Scum jointly put out the half-live, half-studio 12-inch It Disappears, whose studio tracks were later added to the CD edition of Lyburnum. By then the members had dispersed across the country and farther afield for travel and schooling. Among them only Tonie Joy sustained a substantial musical presence, most prominently by forming Universal Order of Armageddon and the Convocation Of..., while also contributing to Born Against, Great Unraveling, and Lava. In 2001 Moss Icon reconvened for several concerts featuring Joy, Vance, DiGialleonardo, Badertscher, and Zak Fusciello, who had previously drummed in Breathing Walker.
The quartet formed in Annapolis, Maryland, during 1986 while its members were still attending high school. Guitarist Tonie Joy, singer Jonathan Vance, bassist Monica DiGialleonardo, and drummer Mark Laurence delivered their debut performance under the Moss Icon name in the summer of 1987. Early the following year they released the 7-inch “Hate in Me,” also known as “Greta Garbo,” on Vermin Scum, the modest label Joy helped establish alongside participants from the local Annapolis band the Hated. Their second 7-inch, Mahpiua Luta, arrived in 1989, after which the group alternated between brief rehearsal bursts and stretches of dormancy. Between 1989 and 1990 Vance and Laurence joined guitarist Alex Badertscher in the side project Breathing Walker, which eventually incorporated both Joy and DiGialleonardo; Badertscher later became Moss Icon’s second guitarist in time to record the 1990 single “Memorial.”
The band persisted for roughly another year, issuing a split LP with Silver Bearing and attempting a full-length album whose first sessions were scrapped before later being redone. That album remained unavailable throughout the group’s lifespan and finally reached vinyl in 1994 via the Vermiform label under the title Lyburnum, also known as Lyburnum Wit's End Liberation Fly. In 1995 Ebullition and Vermin Scum jointly put out the half-live, half-studio 12-inch It Disappears, whose studio tracks were later added to the CD edition of Lyburnum. By then the members had dispersed across the country and farther afield for travel and schooling. Among them only Tonie Joy sustained a substantial musical presence, most prominently by forming Universal Order of Armageddon and the Convocation Of..., while also contributing to Born Against, Great Unraveling, and Lava. In 2001 Moss Icon reconvened for several concerts featuring Joy, Vance, DiGialleonardo, Badertscher, and Zak Fusciello, who had previously drummed in Breathing Walker.
Albums
Singles
