Soul Side

Soul Side stood out as one of the more commanding punk outfits of its era, yet the group might have slipped into total obscurity were it not for the fact that three of its four members, along with producer Eli Janney, later founded Girls Against Boys. On the Washington D.C. punk circuit of the 1980s the band served as a crucial bridge, linking the emotionally charged yet structurally direct emo-core typified by Rites of Spring to the more intricate sonic architecture of Fugazi. With Alexis Fleisig handling drums, Bobby Sullivan delivering vocals, Scott McCloud on guitar, and Johnny Temple on bass, Soul Side fused politically charged lyrics with a restless punk approach marked by abrupt tempo shifts, guitar textures indebted to Sonic Youth, and stretches of restrained quiet. Once the original lineup dissolved, Janney, Fleisig, McCloud, and Temple elevated their parallel endeavor Girls Against Boys to a full-time concern and relocated to New York. Sullivan, meanwhile, lent his voice to several subsequent projects, among them Seven League Boots, Rain Like the Sound of Trains, and the Sevens.