Chisel

Chisel is a punk and mod rock band formed in 1990 at the University of Notre Dame. The members at the time of the formation were Ted Leo on guitar and vocals, Chris Infante on bass, and John Dugan on drums.
In 1991, the band released their first single “Swamp Fox/Spike” b/w “Listen” and would appear on different compilations from local radio stations in Notre Dame and Princeton, NJ. The band then recorded, mixed, and started spreading around a demo tape, which was recorded at Stanford Hall at Notre Dame. The following year, Chris Infante left the band after graduating and was replaced by Chris Norborg.
Two years later, the band relocated to Washington, DC. After a few years of releasing singles and putting songs on comps, the band released a compilation of singles and miscellaneous tracks, “Nothing New”, in 1995. During the same year, the band would do a split with fellow South Bend band “Brian, Collin, & Vince”.
Not long after, the band would go into the studio to record their first album, which would be released as “8 A.M. All Day” in 1996. Within the same year, the band would appear on a split with Velocity Girl.
The following year, the band would once again go into the studio, and, after releasing the single “It’s Alright, You’re O.K. / The Guns Of Meridian Hill”, they released their final album, “Set You Free”.
The band broke up after a short tour that originally had plans to go around the West Coast and Europe but was scrapped.
Ted Leo would not long after go on to form The Sin-Eaters and later see further success in Ted Leo & The Pharmacists. Chris Norborg has been credited as playing drums in a few other bands. John Dugan went on to write for the Washington City Paper and has done interviews with the likes of members of Fall Out Boy and many others. In 2022, Numero Group announced they were reissuing and expanding Chisel’s discography throughout the year, starting with the official digital release of the “It’s Alright, You’re O.K. / The Guns Of Meridian Hill” single and ending with a 2xLP reissue of Set You Free. That same year, Chisel reformed to play at the Numero Twenty festival and a short tour along the East and West coast.