The Jealous Sound

The Jealous Sound took shape toward the close of the 1990s when Sunday’s Best guitarist Pedro Benito joined forces with bassist John McGinnis from Neither Trumpets nor Drums, ex-Knapsack singer and guitarist Blair Shehan, and ex-Pulley drummer Tony Palermo. In summer 2000 the quartet inked a deal with Better Looking, which swiftly released their self-titled EP; the seven-inch moved 11,000 copies and earned the group opening slots alongside At the Drive-In, the Get Up Kids, the Promise Ring, and Death Cab for Cutie, quickly elevating their profile. SPIN magazine hailed them as “the rock you must have.” The following year Mojo Records extended a contract, yet after several weeks of negotiations the label lost its distribution arrangement, leaving the band unaligned. Rather than seeking other suitors, they returned to Better Looking. By late 2002 they were ready to record a debut album, entering the studio under the guidance of producer Tim O’Heir, whose résumé already included Lou Barlow, Morphine, and Juliana Hatfield. Before the year closed, Adam Wade of Shudder to Think replaced the departing Palermo. The resulting sessions yielded Kill Them with Kindness, whose dense, guitar-heavy approach surfaced in June 2003 and was supported by a string of North American shows with the Foo Fighters. Three years afterward, whispers of a breakup surfaced, yet the group resurfaced in 2008 with the Got Friends EP and, the next year, joined Sunny Day Real Estate’s reunion trek. That run fostered a creative alliance with SDRE and Foo Fighters bassist Nate Mendel, who supplied both songwriting and performance contributions while granting the band a year inside the Foo Fighters’ Studio 606. The partnership culminated in the 2012 release of A Gentle Reminder, the band’s second full-length. A year later Rise Records issued a deluxe edition that folded the Got Friends EP into the package.