The Unseen (band)

The Unseen

The Unseen is an American punk band that was formed in 1993 in Hingham, Massachusetts. One of the more prominent bands to play revivalist street punk, The Unseen were originally called The Extinct.

History

The Unseen was formed in Hingham, Massachusetts in 1993. They then moved to Boston, Massachusetts. Along with other street punk bands, they set out to revive the English street punk sound of the 1980s. 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.

Unknown to some, the group's original lead singer and guitarist was Paul Unseen (real name: Paul Russo) who wrote most of the material for the band's first three albums, and departed after the release of Explode. Most shows would begin with Paul (and sometimes Tripp) singing lead and then the show would end with Paul playing drums and Mark singing lead. Paul went on to play in The Pinkerton Thugs as well as a solo project called The Strings.

Mark Unseen (real name: Mark Civitarese), who played drums on the band's first few albums, became the lead singer after Paul Russo's departure. He also formed and currently runs ADD Records. He briefly joined the Boston 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 shortly after his departure he and Unseen guitarist Scott along with Mike Graves and Peter Curtis (then both members of A Global Threat) formed Self Destruct. They released only one 7 inch EP entitled "Violent Affair" and played less than 10 shows but the musical style and lyrical content displayed on their one record would have great influence on all Unseen music to follow, helping to shape their future sound with Mark as lead singer. 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". Also that the band should have called it quits after losing their original singer Paul Russo (and therefore their strong political message). Most widely cited is the fact that The Unseen have produced music videos to air on commercial music video channels such as GMTV2, an avenue looked-down upon in the underground streetpunk scene which also goes against the political message of the first few albums. Darkbuster, a band from The Unseen's area of origin, even released a joke song called "I Hate The Unseen." Members of Darkbuster and The Unseen are friends.

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.

Members

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

Past members

• Paul Russo - Vocals, Rhythm Guitar, Drums, Bass (1995-1997, 1998-2003)
• Brian "Chainsaw" Riley - Rhythm Guitar, Vocals (1997-1999)
• Ambrose Nzams - Bass (1993)
• Marc Carlson - Vocals (1993-1995)
• Brad Logan

Studio albums

• Lower Class Crucifixion (1997) (originally released by VML Records, re-issued in 1998 by A-F Records)
• So This Is Freedom (1999) (A-F Records)
• The Anger & The Truth (2001) (BYO Records)
• Explode (2003) (BYO Records)
• State of Discontent (2005) (Hellcat Records)
• Internal Salvation (2007) (Hellcat Records)

Collections

• Totally Unseen: The Best Of The Unseen (2000) (Step-1 Records)
• The Complete Singles Collection 1994-2000 (2002) (Punkcore Records)

7" Vinyl

• 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)

Music videos

• False Hope from Explode
• Scream Out from State of Discontent
• You Can Never Go Home from State of Discontent
• Break Away from Internal Salvation
• Paint it Black (Originally from The Rolling Stones) from State of Discontent

In popular culture

• An Unseen poster is seen in the 2007 American comedy Superbad. It is on the wall in the bedroom when the Michael Cera character is having sex.
• Unseen songs are playing in the background during two Jackass skits.

External links

• Interview with Mark Unseen
• Interview with Mark of Unseen
• The Unseen on MySpace