Few Chicago bands have embodied the freewheeling spirit and omnidirectional potential of the city’s independent rock scene—whose many subsets include punk, postrock, no wave, and art-rock—as thoroughly as Joan of Arc. Since the group emerged in 1996 from the breakup of emo instigators Cap’n Jazz the previous year, they’ve been in constant flux, dipping into a confounding variety of genres with an intuitive illogic that’s both passionately earnest and playfully perverse. Bandleader Tim Kinsella, front man of Cap’n Jazz, is the lone constant member of Joan of Arc, providing an anchor while a continuously circulating cast of collaborators entered the picture for an album or three or maybe a tour.

In Chicago, Joan of Arc have found plenty of receptive listeners, as well as collaborators attuned to the band’s love of odd self-imposed rules that force them into unprecedented musical decisions. And Joan of Arc haven’t limited themselves to making records and playing shows: they’ve composed live scores for silent films, worked with performance-art troupe Every House Has a Door on the 2013 stage show Testimonium, and celebrated their 20th anniversary with an exhibit of visual art at Elastic. To anyone involved in the local rock scene today, Joan of Arc might feel like a favorite bar that’s been open since before anyone can remember, doing its own thing and adding character to the neighborhood. But like many such brick-and-mortar institutions, the band didn’t survive 2020—this past fall, worn out by years of diminishing financial returns, they announced their breakup, and last month Joyful Noise released the band’s final album, Tim Melina Theo Bobby. It’s named after their core lineup for most of the past decade—Kinsella, vocalist Melina Ausikaitis, drummer Theo Katsaounis, and bassist Bobby Burg—and ironically, it received by far the best Pitchfork review of their career.

Cast of characters

Melina Ausikaitis Joan of Arc member

Jeremy Boyle Joan of Arc cofounder

Bobby Burg member of Joan of Arc, Make Believe, and Love of Everything; founder of Record Label

Rob Roy Campbell Joan of Arc contributor, engineer, founder of audio equipment company Electronaut, member of punk label and collective Underdog Records

Ann Carroll friend, roadie

Matt Clark member of Joan of Arc and Pinebender

Elliot Dicks engineer, founder of the Elliotsound studio

Tim Edwards Flower Booking agent

Graeme Gibson engineer

Lin Hixson Every House Has a Door cofounder and director

Karl Hofstetter Joyful Noise Recordings founder

Theo Katsaounis Joan of Arc member

Mike Kinsella younger brother of Tim Kinsella, member of Joan of Arc, Cap’n Jazz, Owls, Owen, and American Football

Nate Kinsella cousin of Tim Kinsella, producer, member of Joan of Arc, Make Believe, Birthmark, and American Football

Paul Koob designer, roadie, and Joan of Arc member

Todd Mattei member of Joan of Arc and Friend/Enemy

Casey Rice engineer and producer

Koji Saito tour manager and 7 e.p. label founder

Neil Strauch producer, engineer, and mixer

Chris Strong photographer, designer, and co-owner of the Brilliante label

Dee Taira Rainbo Club owner

Ben Vida composer, Joan of Arc contributor

Victor Villarreal member of Joan of Arc, Cap’n Jazz, and Owls

Sam Zurick member of Joan of Arc, Cap’n Jazz, Owls, and Make Believe

Mike Kinsella I believe they called themselves Red Blue Yellow.

Jeremy Boyle That’s what I was exploring, even before I moved to Chicago, when I was living in Saint Louis—I moved to Saint Louis initially to go to school and study engineering.

Mike Kinsella I said I’d play drums on a couple songs. I know on one of the first seven-inches they took one or two of my guitar parts and made songs out of them.

  • Joan of Arc live at the Fireside Bowl in March 1997

Paul Koob Coming from the Chicago punk scene, a band with bleeps and bloops and stuff in it, a guy doing that, that was a real new thing, for me and for a lot of people who were fans of Cap’n Jazz.