Artist(s): Jawbreaker

#151 - Adam Pfahler (Jawbreaker)

Washed Up Emo

April 22, 2019

A documentary was released a few years ago called "Don’t Break Down," about Jawbreaker. Fun fact: Dan Didier, drummer for the Promise Ring, Maritime and Vermont was the producer of the film!  After seeing a screening of the film, I was fascinated at how much footage they had of Jawbreaker. I found out later from Dan that Adam was the one that has been saving everything. When I approached Adam to do the podcast a couple of years ago, Adam said we would need to wait as they were just about to announce all of the reunion shows.  Recently in Brooklyn, Adam and I finally sat down to talk. We discuss where these archival/documentation thoughts started in his life and how the video store that he owned for years was feeding that same itch.  We also discuss what it’s like being in Jawbreaker now and not being as neurotic about taking photos or saving the flyers. In the same light, Adam is fully realizing how important these things are later and the love for his band is how everyone should think about their own band’s legacy, big or small.  Bonus, we talk about emo and how Adam didn’t hear them being called emo until after they broke up. Finally, a couple of rad Nirvana stories about Adam seeing them for the first time and knowing the first single was going to be “Smells Like Teen Spirit.”