THE UNSANE

Singles 1989 - 1992

Unsane were formed under the moniker Lawn-Chair-Blisters at Sarah Lawrence College in 1988. A demo was recorded at Wharton Tiers recording studio in early 1989. Two of the tracks ("This Town" and "Urge to Kill") were released by Treehouse Records in the fall of 1989. Unsane then (for some damn reason) signed with Circuit Records, who were supposed to release the Unsane's debut album Improvised Munitions. The album never came out. Ernie Triccaro, proprietor of Circuit, spent all the money on cocaine instead and still owes the band approximately $200. The band released another couple of 45's on Glitterhouse and Subpop and did small tours of the U.S. They soon found themselves being somewhat of a musicians' and critics' band, with Foetus and Lydia Lunch constantly trying to crawl up their collective butt and people from Spin giving the band write-ups in a desperate attempt to look hip.

The fall of 1991 saw the Unsane's debut album simultaneously released in the U.S. and Europe. The original American album jacket Unsane for Tennis was withdrawn with only a handful ever to reach the market. The band decided to replace the original jacket artwork with something much less offensive and the Unsane's self-titled debut album hit the stores. A barrage of hyperlative international press was soon to follow, and the American college airwaves were soon smothered with the anthemic cross-over dance hit "Action Man."

A limited-edition, semi-legit 7" compiled of some of the tracks from the aborted Circuit album was released by a relative of the band, and an additional PCP 7" split between the Unsane and Slug (featuring the bands covering each others songs), were released in 1992. The Minneapolis-based Women's-Lib-funded record label Amphetamine Reptile Records also released an Unsane track, "Broke" on the popular Douche, Sperm and Swinging in the Streets compilation series.

The Unsane Singles 1989 - 1992 compiles all the out-of-print loose ends of the band's recorded output. Following the death of Charlie Ondras in June of 1992, the band recruited Vinnie Signorelli, previously of the Swans and the Foetus band, among others, as their new drummer.

The Peel Sessions

The Unsane recorded their Peel Sessions over a period of two years, first (tracks 1 & 2) with Charlie Ondras in 1991, then returning to the BBC studios in 1992 with fresh new drummer Vinnie Signorelli. With the exception of "HLL" and Exterminator," studio versions of all the songs herein can be found on the Unsane's first three albums, tracking the NYC trio's mutation from the larval gnashings of its self-titled debut and Singles '89-'92 to the butterflies of belligerence and brutality they had become by the time of Total Destruction, released in the appropriately bleak month of January, 1994. Guest appearances by Suede are not featured on this CD.

In-between two comprehensive U.S. tours taking them places the Donner Party refused to go, the band released a new record on Amphetamine Reptile in 1995. Also look our for the Unsane's version of Joy Divisions' "They Walked In Line" on the Interscope album The Crow: Original Soundtrack 2 (this is not a joke).

Total Destruction

Emerging from the same New York City rock underground that launched the careers of Helmet, the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion and Surgery, Unsane have long staked their claim as the scene's most extreme band. After meeting at college (the name of which cannot be revealed -- unpaid student loans and all, you understand) in 1988, the original trio of Chris Spencer, Peter Shore and drummer Charles Ondras began playing the usual East Coast firetraps almost immediately. The group attracted the attention of the Minneapolis indie Treehouse Records (onetime home of the Bastards and Babes In Toyland), who released the group's debut single "This Town" b/w "Urge To Kill," featuring cover art designed to drag San Francisco's notorious Zodiac killer to justice (or at least make friends with him).

Additional recordings with Wharton Tiers yielded tracks for a Circuit Records full-length debut. Sadly, the label owner seems to have spent all his savings on nasal-congestion reliever and the album was never released. The band bided their time by releasing subsequent singles for the Glitterhouse, Subpop and PCP labels, setting the stage for their eponymous debut album on Matador in 1991.

In 1992, a furious recording and touring schedule came to an abrupt halt with the untimely death of Charles Ondras. His replacement, former Swans/Foetus Inc. drummer Vinnie Signorelli, joined the band in the fall of '92, just in time to begin work on compositions for Unsane album #2. During the interim, Matador released Singles, a compilation of the aforementioned 7" and compilation tracks. Whatever portion of '93 that was not spent promoting additional stop-gap/rip-off titles (the just-released Peel Sessions, including old and new material) went into the creation of Total Destruction. Co-produced by Martin Bisi (Sonic Youth, Swans, Live Skull, Cop Shoot Cop), Unsane's major label christening is anything but a crossover attempt. Successfully upping the ante on their patented blend of volume, velocity and violence, Unsane have taken their brutal art to a new level.

Unsane discography (up thru early 1995)