Your favorite band's favorite band: Cap'n Jazz
Cap’n Jazz were one of those mythical bands I never thought I would get to see live. I first learned of them years ago while I was still in high school through a pitchfork video that gave a surface level history about the emo genre. It covered a few of the many bands that not only changed the sound of hardcore at the time but are still seen as influential to this day. Hearing that snippet of Oh Messy Life had me entranced and led me down the Kinsella brothers rabbit hole where I learned about all of the bands they have been in and how they had influenced pretty much all of my favorite bands at the time. From the advent of post-hardcore to the creation of midwest emo, the influence of Tim and Mike Kinsella cannot be understated.
Cap’n Jazz’s compilation album Analphabetapolothology
Since the band broke up in 1995 they have reunited and toured sporadically but that was all before my time. As someone who did not start going to shows until their early 20s there are many bands I just barely missed out on getting to see or in the case of Cap’n Jazz wasn't even born in the right millennium.
Picture taken by author 7/6/25
However one fateful February day I opened Instagram to find that in support of the thirtieth anniversary reissue of their first and only album, Burritos, Inspiration Point, Fork Balloon Sports, Cards in the Spokes, Automatic Biographies, Kites, Kung Fu, Trophies, Banana Peels We've Slipped On, and Egg Shells We've Tippy Toed Over, otherwise known as Shmap'n Shmazz, Cap’n Jazz would be embarking on a short North American tour with the first stop being at Thalia Hall.
I've written about Thalia Hall before and it has come to be one of, if not my favorite venues in Chicago partially due to being a twenty minute walk from my apartment but also because of the atmosphere that the building provides, being the perfect stage for any type of show whether it be the jazz stylings of BADBADNOTGOOD or the indie twang of Slaughter Beach, Dog. Barring those name drops I am here to talk about night two of Cap’n Jazz at Thalia Hall, July 6th 2025.
I arrived shortly before the band's set and did my usual Thalia Hall routine, perusing the merch room and then going to find the best vantage point to enjoy the show. I am in mosh retirement despite my younger age due to knee pain but that does not stop me from enjoying the set from the balcony section and I did make my way to the floor during the encore to really get a feel for the energy of the room.
Picture taken by author 7/6/25
To me the best bands sound the same live as they do on recording and Cap’n Jazz fit the bill. Despite it being thirty years later each member of the band gives the same energy to the show as they would have during their early twenties and teen years with Tim Kinsella face down crowdsurfing multiple times throughout the set and screeching all of his lyrics as if not a year has passed (besides their cover of take on me which he said he did not remember the words to). You could clearly see and hear each member of the band giving it their all from cousin Nate Kinsella and original member Victor Villareal on guitars, to original bassist Sam Zurick holding it down in front of the frantic slamming of Mike Kinsella on drums.
The setlist included most of the songs off of Shmap'n Shmazz; including two of my favorites Little League and Basil’s Kite as well as some other titles sprinkled in. You could really tell each member of the band was happy to be there, playing their music for so many fans three decades after their initial break up. Tim Kinsella himself said “We are just a bunch of old guys now, so thank you for being here” as he looked over a crowd of fans both young and old themselves, all there to enjoy a night of infectious emo-punk tunes.
Picture taken by author 7/6/25
Coincidentally while writing this article I found out that WholesomeZine’s very own Angel Ledezma grew up with the original members of Cap’n Jazz and was in attendance to visit the band during night one of the shows. When I asked him for his thoughts about the band getting back together to celebrate their thirtieth anniversary release he had this to say, “I’m blown away that a band that started when we were all in high school, over thirty years ago now, still resonated with young folks. To us, Cap’n Jazz was our band, our friends, and our classmates. When they started playing outside of our bubble, that's when I felt like they were going to be elevated to another stratosphere of appreciation”.
Picture taken by Angel Ledezma 7/5/25
While the original era of Cap’n Jazz came and went three decades ago now their influence still reverberates throughout alternative music today. What started as a basement band out of Buffalo Grove, Illinois turned into a landmark on the emo/post-hardcore timeline that every enthusiast needs to stop at.