Chicago modern rock trio Emitter announce the release of their long-awaited full-length album, Extra Pale, out April 17, 2026 — independently released and available on all digital platforms and on limited edition vinyl. Originally recorded nearly two decades ago and shelved by the collapse of the music industry before it ever saw the light of day, Extra Pale is finally here: nine tracks of guitar-heavy, groove-driven rock that sound both classic and immediate, carried by the unmistakable chemistry of a band that never stopped believing in what they had built.
This is Emitter‘s first full-length release since their early 2000s run. It has been worth the wait.
“Extra Pale is unfinished business for us,” says the band. “We made this record ourselves, just the three of us calling the shots, writing it, producing it, playing everything except the drums. It sat on a hard drive for almost 20 years, and we realised we owed it to each other to let it breathe. Working with Marc Daniel Nelson was the final piece. He gave these songs the sound they always deserved. At this point in our lives, it just felt right to finally let it out into the world.”
Extra Pale is the work of Jason Chappell (vocals, guitar), Steven Van Der Griend (guitar), and David Schoon (bass) — three musicians whose partnership across two decades has produced something that no individual part of it could account for. With Edd Merkel on drums and the legendary Kenny Aronoff — one of the most recorded drummers in history — laying the original foundation, the album was built at The Pop Machine Studio in Indianapolis with producers Eric Klee and Marc Johnson, and mixed by Marc Daniel Nelson, whose credits include Fleetwood Mac, Jason Mraz, and Colbie Caillat.
The result is bright, kaleidoscopic, and deeply soulful — guitar-heavy grooves and driving rhythms providing the launchpad for Chappell’s distinctly original powerhouse vocals. Somber at times, resilient throughout, and infused with meaning and swagger at every turn. Fans of U2, Oasis, Jimmy Eat World, Weezer, The Counting Crows, and Foo Fighters will find themselves immediately at home.
“This record is about brotherhood and grit,” the band says. “We played nearly every note ourselves, with Kenny Aronoff laying down the foundation on drums. Life happened, and the album never came out. Twenty years later, we realised we weren’t done with it. It’s not about chasing anything now. It’s about sharing something we’re proud of.”
Emitter formed in 2000 and quickly carved out a place in the national rock landscape. Their breakout single “White Trash Town” reached #1 on radio in 2003, earning coast-to-coast airplay and the serious attention of Atlantic Records, who courted the band as one of music’s next big stories. Around the same time, “Love You More” — from their self-titled debut — found a second life on screen, featured in the motion picture Dog Gone Love.
Riding that momentum, the band entered The Pop Machine in 2005 to record what should have been their breakthrough full-length. The sessions delivered. But just as the record was poised for release in 2006, the music industry began to collapse around them — label budgets shrank, management faltered, funding evaporated, and the album was shelved. One more casualty of an industry in transition.
Years later, Schoon and Van Der Griend purchased the unfinished masters from the Johnson brothers, completed the tracking, and oversaw the mix that brought the music back to life. What had sat on a hard drive for two decades is now, finally, what it was always meant to be.
Emitter will celebrate the release of Extra Pale with a sold-out show on April 18th at Haymarket in Chicago — the first of further 2026 performances to follow. After twenty years, the songs will finally be heard live.
