Mineral was a short-lived emo band hailing from Houston, Texas. The band formed in 1994 with a lineup of Christopher Simpson on vocals and guitar, Scott Davod McCarver on guitar, Jeremy Gomez on bass guitar, and Gabriel Wiley on the drums. After three years of touring and recording, the foursome released their debut album, The Power of Failing, in 1997 through Crank! A Record Company, to critical acclaim. The success of the album attracted the attention of Interscope Records (the label of bands such as blink-182 and Jimmy Eat World), who offered to sign them once their contract with Crank! expired. However, in 1998, the quartet had decided to break up after the release of their sophomore effort, EndSerenading, citing tensions within the band that became untenable. Simpson and Gomez went on to form The Gloria Record, whilst McCarver and Wiley went on to form Imbroco.
Although their output is very small, Mineral is one of the most revered bands of the midwest emo movement that began with Sunny Day Real Estate. Numerous trademarks distinguish the band's sound, such as Simpson's emotive and offkey vocals, instrumental bridges that were dominated by a "twinkly" and ethereal guitar sound, frequent dynamic changes, and wistful lyrics that dealt with subjects such as faith, unrequited love, and the pressures of growing up.
After reforming for extra tours and issuing some compilations throughout the 2010s, Mineral announced in November 2018, to commemorate their 25th anniversary in 2019, the release of a new book entitled One Day When We Are Young. The book also comes with a bonus 10" vinyl featuring two songs—the first material the band released in nearly 20 years. The first of these songs, "Aurora", was issued that month in November.
Discography
- Split single with Jimmy Eat World and Sense Field (1997)
- The Power of Failing (1997)
- EndSerenading (1998)
- 1994-1998: The Complete Collection (2014)note
- One Day When We Are Young (2019)
Mineral incorporate the following tropes:
- Angst: Simpson's lyrics tend to feature either this, or him recounting happy memories.
- All Love Is Unrequited: Both "Gloria" and "If I Could" are about this trope.
- Emo:: One of the more well known examples of this trope.
- Exactly What It Says on the Tin: EndSerenading ends with a track called "The Last Word is Rejoice", which is an accurate title.
- New Sound Album: In contrast to The Power of Failing, EndSerenading features crisper production, fewer lyrics, and the songs tend to build up to instrumental climaxes instead of quick dynamic changes.
- Non-Appearing Title: With the exception of "Gloria", none of their song titles appear in their lyrics (Unless you count "The Last Word Is Rejoice", while that phrase does not appear, it is an accurate description of the lyrics.)
- Perishing Alt-Rock Voice: Chris Simpson.
