Moss Icon

The band's identifying characteristics, and those that distinguished them from their contemporaries, included noticeable and abrupt transitions from loud to quiet, and Vance's esoteric stream of conscious lyrical content. Earlier recordings of the band are reminiscent of early Joy Division, while later songs embodied a less blunt approach with more exploratory arrangements and riffage.{{cite web|url=http://temporaryresidence.com/descriptions/trr201.php|title=Moss Icon – Complete Discography|accessdate=March 10, 2012|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120303144452/http://temporaryresidence.com/descriptions/trr201.php|archivedate=March 3, 2012}} Vance's lyrics touched upon vaguely, among other issues, the plight of indigenous peoples of the Americas, and opposed the U.S. government's involvement in Nicaragua and Guatemala.

The band played frequently with fellow Annapolis band The Hated. Moss Icon recorded their debut 7", "Hate in Me", in January 1988, and entered the studio several months later to record their second 7", "Mahpiua Luta". Their Lyburnum Wits End Liberation Fly LP was recorded by Les Lentz (who engineered all of their studio recordings) throughout 1988 but was not released until mid-1994, three years after the band's break-up, by Vermiform Records.{{Cite web |date=2023-04-14 |title=Moss Icon Were One of a Kind |url=https://daily.bandcamp.com/features/moss-icon-lyburnum-wits-end-liberation-fly-interview?utm_source=footer |access-date=2024-09-19 |website=Bandcamp Daily}} Moss Icon's third 7", entitled "Memorial", was recorded in January 1991 along with a split LP with Silver Bearing. In 1994, Ebullition Records released the It Disappears LP, compiling songs from "Memorial" with live versions of several songs.

In 1990, a splinter project of Moss Icon was formed called Breathing Walker, containing all four members of Moss Icon plus Alex Badertscher on bass, Zak Fusciello on percussion, and Tim Horner on violin. Breathing Walker released a cassette that was re-released on vinyl and CD in 2001 by the Vermin Scum label, along with live tracks.

After the dissolution of Moss Icon, guitarist Tonie Joy was a member of the bands Universal Order of Armageddon, Born Against, and The Convocation Of.... (later christened The Convocation). Other band members were less involved in music, except for Laurence's drums in Lava, DiGialleonardo's Blue Condors, and Vance's solo debut LP.

Moss Icon reunited to play two shows with Zak Fusciello on drums, one at the 2001 More Than Music Fest in Columbus, Ohio{{cite web|url=https://www.punknews.org/article/1362/reunion-of-emo-pioneers|title=Reunion of Emo Pioneers|publisher=Punknews.org|author=White, Adam|date=April 25, 2001|accessdate=February 9, 2021}} and the other at the renovated Charles Theatre in Baltimore, Maryland.

In July 2008, Moss Icon was named one of the "23 Bands Who Shaped Punk" by Alternative Press magazine in issue No. 240. Vance's first officially released book, Tulip Has a Room, was published by Easysubcult.{{cite web|url=http://www.easysubcult.bigcartel.com/product/book-by-jon-vance|title=easysubculture – Tulip Has a Room|accessdate=March 10, 2012}}

Since 2007, Joy, Vance, Zak Fusciello, and Alex Badertscher have been occasionally working on new material in Baltimore, MD, for a possible new recording. In May 2012, a discography was released through Temporary Residence Limited, featuring two discs along with photos and lyrics. The band also played a couple of live shows (NYC and Washington, DC) in December 2014.

A 30th anniversary edition of Lyburnum Wits was released by Temporary Residence Limited.

File:FIGURINE OF A WARRIOR-Tepe Yahyii.png

Although neither Tonie Joy nor Jonathan Vance recall the specifics of how they discovered the iconic image for their full length Lyburnum Wits End Liberation Fly LP, its origin can be traced to a 1971 Scientific American article, which includes an illustration depicting a figure of a warrior modeled in clay is from the final period of occupation at Tepe Yahyii, when a Sassanian military outpost stood on the top of the mound from sometime in the third century B.C. to about A.D. 400. Thereafter only nomads visited the dead city." Tepe Yahya, midway between Mesopotamia and India, was a busy center of trade 5,500 years ago. An outpost of Mesopotamian urban culture, it played a key role in the spread of civilization from west to east.{{cite journal |last1=Lamberg-Karlovsky |first1=C. C. |last2=Lamberg-Karlovsky |first2=Martha |title=An Early City in Iran |journal=Scientific American |volume=224 |issue=6 |pages=102–111 |date=June 1971 |publisher=Scientific American, a division of Nature America, Inc. |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2307/24922756 |doi=10.2307/24922756}}

• Demo Tape (1987)
• Hate in Me (1988, Vermin Scum/Dancing Song)
• Mahpiua Luta (1989, Vermin Scum)
• Memorial (1991, Vermin Scum)
• Split with Silver Bearing (1991, Vermin Scum)
• Lyburnum Wits End Liberation Fly (1994, Vermiform Records)
• It Disappears (1994, Ebullition Records/Vermin Scum)

• Panx Zine No. 3 compilation 7" - song "Mirror" (1988, Panx)
• Life is Change comp CD - song "Guatemala" (1991, Bari Beri)
• Superpowers cassette compilation - song "Sioux Day" (1992, Troubleman Unlimited)
• Powerless II comp LP - song "Divinity Cove" (1992)
• Fear of Smell comp LP - song "Excerpt From It Disappears" (1993, Vermiform)
• False Object Sensor comp LP/CD - song "Cornflower Blue" with Daniel Littleton of The Hated and Ida, and Michael Littleton of Ida (2001, Vermiform—also appears on The Hated "unreleased songs" bootleg LP)

{{reflist}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20120303144452/http://temporaryresidence.com/descriptions/trr201.php Temporary Residence reissues website]
• [http://www.bandtoband.com/band/moss-icon Moss Icon - BandToBand.com]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20080827192130/http://bidhardcore.com/2008/06/12/moss-icon-hate-in-me-7/ Review of the Hate In Me 7"]
• [http://www.myspace.com/mossiconofficial Moss Icon's Official Myspace page]
• [http://altpress.com/apmag/240.htm Alternative Press July, 2008, Issue No. 240]

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Category:American post-hardcore musical groups

Category:Hardcore punk groups from Maryland

Category:Musical groups established in 1986

Category:1986 establishments in Maryland

Category:American emo musical groups

Category:First-wave emo bands