Unsane
is a New York City rock music trio, formed in 1988.
They are generally classified as noise rock, but their music also touches on elements of hardcore punk and metal. Finding limited mainstream success, Unsane are nonetheless hugely influential; writer Patrick Kennedy writes that "while developing the blueprint for noise-metal bands to follow, Unsane cut a remarkable swath through underground music, inspiring a devoted, cult-like following around the globe." [1]
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UNSANE TICKETS
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Biography
Unsane was formed in 1989 by singer/guitarist Chris Spencer, bass guitarist Pete Shore and drummer Charlie Ondras. They met as students at
Sarah Lawrence College. The band was supposed to have their debut album recorded in 1988 by Circuit Records as "Improvised Munitions" , but Ernie Triccaro, the owner of Circuit Records, never released the album.
In the early 1990s, Unsane was part of a scene of loud, noisy, like-minded rock groups in New York City's
East Village, often playing concerts with bands like
Pussy Galore,
Cop Shoot Cop, Surgery,
Helmet and the
Reverb Motherfuckers (Unsane's first show was as the opening act for the Reverb Motherfuckers). Members of Unsane were very active during this era and played in other bands like
Boss Hog and the Action Swingers.
The band's self-titled debut was released in 1991 and was known for its harsh music and gruesome cover art: a photo of a decapitated man on a
New York city subway track, his body still wearing a
Members Only jacket.
Ondras died of a
heroin overdose in 1992, and was replaced temporarily by
Anthony DeLuca and then permanently by
Vinnie Signorelli (formerly of
Foetus and NY icons
Swans). In 1994, Shore departed from the band for unknown reasons and was replaced by Dave Curran.
The band toured heavily, and released
Total Destruction
in 1993 on
Matador Records /
Atlantic Records-- it was Unsane's only major-label distributed release. Their third album,
Scattered, Smothered & Covered
, was issued by Ampehetamine Reptile. The
music video for the single "Scrape" was made for a mere $200, yet earned significant play on
MTV. The video alternates between lo-fi rehearsal footage of Unsane, and a series of serious
skateboarding wipeouts.
They continued touring heavily (including a stint opening for metal icons
Slayer), but did not release a new album until
Occupational Hazard
, issued by
Relapse Records in 1998. Later that same year - in seeming fulfilment of the album's title - Spencer was attacked by four people after playing a concert in
Vienna, Austria.
[2] He ended up in hospital suffering internal bleeding and underwent major surgery. As a result of Spencer's injury, and touring over ten months of the year
[3], the band decided to take a break in 2000.
During the interim, Spencer moved to
California where he formed a new band with Dave Curran called
The Cutthroats 9, releasing one album on
Man's Ruin Records. Curran also started a band called The J.J. Paradise Players Club and Signorelli opened a tattoo shop in
Brooklyn.
Unsane reformed in 2003 upon Spencer's return to New York, and released a greatest hits record,
Lambhouse
, followed by
Blood Run
two years later.
Ipecac released Unsane's sixth studio album,
Visqueen
on March 13, 2007.
Vinnie Signorelli has recently teamed up to play drums in a new band called
A Storm of Light with Josh Graham (
Neurosis, ex
Red Sparowes,
Battle of Mice,
Blood and Time) on guitar and vocals, Domenic Seita (ex Tombs and Asea) on bass, and Pete Angevine (Satanized) on additional drums and percussion. The new band has spent most of the spring touring with
Neurosis and will release their debut album in mid-June 2008.
Cover Art
Apart from their music, they are also famous for their ever gruesome cover art. The title of
Blood Run
refers to how the band assembles their cover art (in a "blood run" they purchase blood and do the photo shoot the same night
[4].)
Their song "Committed" was featured in the Activision/Neversoft video game,
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater.
The Peel Sessions
Unsane have recorded several
Peel Sessions:
# May 21, 1991 ·Members:
Chris Spencer, Pete Shore, Charlie Ondras/ tracks: "Organ Donor", "Bath", "Street Sweeper", "Jungle Music", "Exeterminator"
[5]
# November 26, 1991 · Members:
Chris Spencer, Pete Shore,
Vinnie Signorelli tracks: "Broke", "Body Bomb", "Hll", "Black Book (Vol II)"
[6]
# June 7, 1994 · Members:
Chris Spencer, Pete Shore,
Vinnie Signorelli & Preston Long on Speak English / tracks: "Trench", "S O S", "Blew", "Radio 1", "Speak English"
[7]
The first two sessions were released as an EP on 6 September 1994 [8] while the third session remains unreleased.
Band members
Current members
- Chris Spencer
: Guitar/ Vocals - 1988 - present
- Dave Curran
: Bass - 1994 - present
- Vinnie Signorelli
: Percussionist - 1992 - present
Former members
- Pete Shore
: Bass 1988 - 1994
- Charlie Ondras
: Percussionist - 1988 - 1992.
Discography (incomplete)
Albums
- Unsane
(Matador) - 1991
- Total Destruction
(Matador/Atlantic) - 1994
- Scattered, Smothered & Covered
(Amphetamine Reptile) - 1995
- Occupational Hazard
(Relapse) - 1998
- Blood Run
(Relapse) - 2005
- Visqueen
(Ipecac Recordings) - 2007
Compilation albums
- Singles 89-92, LP/ CD
(Matador) - 1993
- Lambhouse: The Collection 1991-1998
(Relapse) - 2003
Live albums
- Peel Sessions
(Matador) - 1994
- Amrep Xmas
(Man's Ruin) - 1995
- Attack In Japan
(Rebel) - 1995
Singles
- Split w/ Cows, Pagans, Bastards (Unsane - "Burn") (Treehouse) - 1989
- This Town single
(Treehouse) - 1989
- Concrete Bed single
(Glitterhouse) - 1990
- Vandal-X single
(Sub Pop) - 1990
- Jungle Music single
(PCP) - 1991
- Split w/ Slug single (Matador) - 1992
- Body Bomb 7" red vinyl single
(Matador) - 1994
- Sick/ No Soul single
(Man's Ruin) - 1996
- Committed/ Over me, single
(Galaxia) - 1998
- This Plan/ Ha,Ha,Ha, single
(DC Records) - 2001