The Unseen (band)

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This article is about the band. For the Quasimoto album, see The Unseen (album).
The Unseen
Origin Hingham, Massachusetts, U.S.
Genre(s) Punk rock
Street punk
Hardcore punk
Years active 1993–present
Label(s) Hellcat Records
Epitaph Records
Fat Wreck Chords
A-F Records
BYO Records
Website www.unseenpunks.com
Members
Mark Unseen - Drums, Vocals (1993-2003) Lead Vocals (2003-Present)
Tripp Underwood - Bass, Vocals (1993-Present)
Scott Unseen - Lead Guitar, Vocals (1993-Present)
Pat Melzard - Drums (2002-present)
Jonny - Rhythm Guitar (2006-present)
Former members
Paul Russo - Vocals, Rhythm Guitar, Drums, Bass (1995-2003)
Brian "Chainsaw" Reily - Rhythm Guitar, Vocals (1997-1999)
Marc Carlson - Vocals (1993-1995)

The Unseen is a street punk band (with hardcore punk leanings) that was formed in 1993 in Hingham, Massachusetts. Originally, lead singer of the band was the star hockey player of the Hingham High School team, Marc Carlson. After he left the band, they played as a four piece (see members). The Unseen originally performed under the name, 'The Extinct'.

Contents

[edit] History

The Unseen formed in Boston 1993 and released the demo EP Too Young To Know...Too Reckless To Care in 1994. Two other 7" EPs followed, before the release of their debut full-length, Lower Class Crucifixion on A-F Records. Another two albums followed on the same label before they signed to BYO Records, and then, Hellcat Records. Each of their albums have sold moderately better than previous releases.

The quintet also released a best-of compilation for the European market in June 2000 titled Totally Unseen: The Best Of The Unseen, which contained two previously unreleased tracks.

For the release of their 2001 album The Anger And the Truth, "Chainsaw" re-accompanied the band in the studio to record the song No Evacuation, a song he originally wrote.

After being a member of the band for nearly ten years and writing most of the material on Lower Class Crucifixion, So This is Freedom?, and The Anger and the Truth, Paul Russo left the band after only contributing vocals to one track on their fourth album Explode. Citing differences in direction, he is now the leader of The Strings, an indie rock/folk band. He remains friends with his former bandmates.

Mark Unseen, the lead singer, formed and currently runs ADD Records. He also briefly joined the Maine punk group A Global Threat as a second singer, and recorded the full-length What the Fuck Will Change? and Until We Die before deciding to concentrate on his duties with The Unseen. However, Mark has recently started a punk rock band called Ashers which has played a few shows.

There has been some controversy concerning the band, including allegations that in recent years they have "sold out". Most widely cited is the fact that The Unseen have produced music videos to air on commercial music video channels such as MTV2, an avenue looked-down upon in the underground streetpunk scene. A band from The Unseen's area of origin, Darkbuster, even released a song mocking The Unseen and describing their hatred of The Unseen's stereotypical look and attitude, generating a hatred for The Unseen among the Darkbuster faithful. The band reacted to this perception with the song "So Sick of You."

They have toured Europe, North America, Australia, Japan, and Mexico with many punk heavyweights from The Bouncing Souls and Rancid to decidedly more hardcore outfits like Hatebreed and Sick Of It All. Since the departure of Paul, the band has used many replacements on tour such as members from The Virus, Strike Anywhere, and F-Minus, however, recently, on their MySpace page, The Unseen have included a fifth band member, Jonny, an ex-guitarist of A Global Threat who was in the band at the same time as Mark.

2006 also saw the release of Tripp's book So This Is Readin'?, which details the life and hardships of being in an underground band with dry comedy. It started as a lengthy band history on the band's website, but after a few amusing "chapters" he was contacted by a publishing company to release it in book form.

In May 2006, The Unseen announced on their official website that they would begin writing their sixth studio full-length album during the summer of that year. The album, titled Internal Salvation, came out on July 10, 2007. The first song released from that album is a track titled "Right Before Your Eyes" which was followed up by the track "Break Away", of which the band shot a video for. In support of the new album, the band joined the thirteenth Warped Tour in 2007 and launched a US/Canada Tour in March 2008.

[edit] Members

  • Mark Unseen - Drums, Vocals (1993-2003), Lead Vocals (2003-Present)
  • Tripp Underwood - Bass, Vocals (1993-Present)
  • Scott Unseen - Lead Guitar, Vocals (1993-Present)
  • Pat Melzard - Drums (2002-present)
  • Jonny - Rhythm Guitar, Backing Vocals (2006-present)

[edit] Past members

  • Paul Russo - Vocals, Rhythm Guitar, Drums, Bass (1995-2003)
  • Brian "Chainsaw" Reily - Rhythm Guitar, Vocals (1997-1999)
  • Fergus Cullen - Vocals (1993-1995)

[edit] Discography

[edit] 7"s

  • Too Young To Know... Too Reckless To Care 7" (1995 Rodent Popsicle Records)
  • Protect And Serve 7" (1996 VML records)
  • Raise Your Finger Raise Your Fist 7" (1996 VML records)
  • Tom and BootBoys Split 7" (1998 Pogo 77 records)
  • Boston's Finest - Split 7" with Toxic Narcotic (1998 ADD/Rodent popsicle records)
  • Piss OFF You Worthless lying FUCK! 7" (Recorded in 1998, never released)

[edit] Music Videos

[edit] External links