Jibe began in late 1993 after friends Joe Grah and Toby Bittenbender met bassist Sean Robinson while working at Guitar Center in Dallas, Texas. Drummer Ben Jeffries joined the other members upon moving to Dallas in February 1994. Jibe played their first show at a club called “The Basement” in Dallas in April 1994. The group soon became known for their energetic and intense live shows and relentless touring schedule, playing well over a thousand concerts in their first five years. Jibe released their first album, a live concert recorded at Trees in Dallas, in 1994. The self-titled LP Jibe followed in 1996.
The band received their first taste of success in 2000 with their single "I’ll Meet You Halfway" from their second studio album In My Head, which reached the #1 spot on college radio stations in Texas and Louisiana. Although compared by the press to classic rock acts such as James Gang and Led Zeppelin, the band cited contemporaries such as U2, Pearl Jam, and Jane’s Addiction as the primary influences on their developing sound.
In 2003 Jibe released their third album Uprising. The single "Yesterday’s Gone" received significant national airplay and spent nine weeks in the top 30 on the national rock chart, peaking at #26. The song soared to #1 at radio stations in Dallas, Austin, and Shreveport, and reached the top 10 at dozens of stations across Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana and made the top 20 in several other markets nationwide. "Yesterday’s Gone" charted at #71 on Radio & Records year-end list of the top 100 rock tracks of 2003 and was chosen by the Dallas Cowboys as the music bed for their 2003 season. Uprising was also a critical success, earning awards for alternative album of the year, male vocalist of the year, producer of the year, and song of the year at the 2003 KEGL local show awards.
Jibe quickly found themselves in high demand as an opening act for popular nationally touring post-grunge rock acts of the day such as Creed, Staind, Sevendust, Shinedown, Seether, Saliva, Ours, Oleander, Lit, and Our Lady Peace. Jibe toured with Nickelback, Jerry Cantrell, Josh Todd, Kings of Leon and Marilyn Manson and established themselves as one of the premier rock bands in the Dallas scene.
Breakup and hiatus
After playing over 2,500 concerts, Jibe suddenly broke up in June 2004, much to the dismay of their fans. According to the Dallas Observer, the band seemed to be “perpetually perched on fame’s doorstep” and after the success of their most recent album, by all accounts were “on their way up”. According to Jibe frontman Joe Grah, one night he simply got in his car and drove to Los Angeles and didn’t tell anyone for three days. During his time in Jibe, Grah had become addicted to drugs and alcohol and believes that if he hadn’t left Dallas and broken up the band, he probably would have died.
After leaving Jibe, singer Joe Grah joined the band Loser in Los Angeles, which also featured guitarist John 5. Loser was signed to Island Records and released the album Just Like You in 2006. Following the dissolution of Loser, Grah fronted the bands South of Earth and I Am The Wolf. He also formed the electronic rock project Dead Girls Don’t Lie.
Ben Jeffries drummed for the band The Feds from 2004 to 2008 before leaving the band to attend college.
Toby Bittenbender joined Zayra Alvarez’s backing band and played on her 2006 album Ruleta. Later he played with Dallas rock band Overscene.
Corey Tatro played bass in the metal band DownLo, and also plays lead guitar in the Whiskey River Ramblers.
Legacy
Jibe’s reputation in the Dallas scene has become legendary. The legacy of the band is inextricably tied to the pinnacle of the Deep Ellum music scene of the 1990s and early 2000s. Along with other prominent Dallas bands such as Tripping Daisy, The Toadies, Drowning Pool, Flickerstick, Edgewater, Old 97's, Slow Roosevelt and Reverend Horton Heat, Jibe are revered as standard-bearers of a bygone era when rock fans packed the clubs of Deep Ellum.
Jibe played their first concert in eleven years on September 25, 2015 at Gas Monkey Bar N' Grill in Dallas. The show was free, but required tickets which could be reserved at Dallas rock radio station KDGE’s website. The tickets sold out in less than ten hours, and the concert was moved to a larger venue, where tickets again sold out. In 2016 the band wrote and recorded a new album, Epic Takes of Human Nature with producer Matt Noveskey and mixer Toby Wright. The first single from the album ,"We've Only Just Begun", was released November 8, 2016. The song "Release" is the second single. The full album was released to fans who pre-ordered on June 9, 2017 and had a wider release on October 6, 2017. Along with the new album, Jibe also released a collection of B-sides and rarities, and are also working on a documentary film about the band's history and reunion.
Band members
Joe Grah – lead vocals (1993–2004, 2015-present)
Toby Bittenbender – guitars (1993–2004, 2015-present)
Corey Tatro – bass (1998–2004, 2015-present)
Todd Harwell – drums (2017–present)
Sean Robinson – bass (1993-1998)
Ben Jeffries – drums (1993-2004, 2015-2017)
Crush
Jibe Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
You're everything undone
The first time I layed eyes on you
I knew you were the only one
It's not so ordinary
When everything comes undone
The last thing I remember
Was picking up the loaded gun
Move quietly across the floor
Kneeling over your naked body
No one will have you anymore
But me
Yeah me
You're not so ordinary
You're everything I want
I told you this would be forever
I said you were the only one
Its not so ordinary
Now that everything's come undone
I still feel your breathless kiss
And taste your cold flesh on my tongue
Slip inside an open window
Move quietly across the floor
Kneeling over your naked body
No one will have you anymore
But me
Yeah me
(Toby's guitar solo)
Slip inside an open window
Move quietly across the floor
Kneeling over your naked body
No one will have you anymore
Slip inside an open window
Move quietly across the floor
Kneeling over your naked body
No one will have you anymore
No one will have you anymore
No one will have you anymore
No one will have you anymore
But me
The song Crush by Jibe tells a dark story of an obsessive and possessive lover who feels that they are the only ones who can have their love interest. The lyrics showcase the warped perception of the singer's love interest, describing them as not just special but everything undone, which highlights the singer's belief that they are the only one who truly understands and sees this person for who they truly are. The singer describes slipping into an open window and moving quietly across the floor, which underscores the sense of creepiness in their behavior. The line about the loaded gun and the breathless kiss brings up the idea of danger and a potentially fatal attraction. The singer’s focus is on possessing their love interest at all costs, even if it means no one else can have them.
The chorus of the song talks about their love interest not being ordinary and how they were the only one that the singer knew they could have forever. However, with the use of past tense, it's clear that things didn’t end up the way they planned, and now everything has come undone, but the singer still has their love interest’s body, and "no one will have" them anymore except for them. This portrays a deeply unsettling and morbid view of love and obsession.
Line by Line Meaning
You're not so ordinary
You're unique and special
You're everything undone
You're uncompleted and need someone to fix you
The first time I laid eyes on you
The first time I saw you
I knew you were the only one
I knew you were the perfect match for me
It's not so ordinary
It's unusual and extraordinary
When everything comes undone
When everything falls apart
The last thing I remember
The last memory I have
Was picking up the loaded gun
Was arming myself
Slip inside an open window
Enter through an unlocked window
Move quietly across the floor
Walk silently to avoid being heard
Kneeling over your naked body
Crouching over your exposed skin
No one will have you anymore
No one else will have you physically
But me
Yeah me
Only I will have you physically
You're everything I want
You're all that I desire
I told you this would be forever
I promised you lifelong commitment
I said you were the only one
I declared that you were my soulmate
I still feel your breathless kiss
I can still feel the passion in your kiss
And taste your cold flesh on my tongue
And remember the sensation of your body on my lips
No one will have you anymore
But me
I have claimed you as mine and no one else will have you
Slip inside an open window
Enter through an unlocked window
Move quietly across the floor
Walk silently to avoid being heard
Kneeling over your naked body
Crouching over your exposed skin
No one will have you anymore
No one else will have you physically
No one will have you anymore
No one else will have you emotionally
No one will have you anymore
No one else will have you mentally
But me
Only I will have you in every way possible
Contributed by Katherine L. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Todd Shingley
The singer's got some new shit coming out. You know he's gonna tear it up. Dude' s nuts.
Ty Robertson
Sick lyrics! Love it!
Robert Carranza
riff rock...no song present