UNSANE recently began The Early Cuts tour with the new lineup featuring Cooper (Made Out of Babies) and Jon Syverson (Daughters).

The early days of UNSANE began in the late ’80s under the original incarnation of the band — Chris Spencer, Pete Shore (bass), and Charles Ondras (drums) — crawled larvally out of the practice space in 1989 and began playing New York’s seediest haunts. It was these graveyard slots at clubs like CBGB’s where the band developed and honed their trademark sound and delivered the goods with due intensity and volume. Unsane’s growing intensity, combined with their strong DIY touring approach influenced this greatly iconic self-titled album [recently reissued by Lamb Unlimited]: “It seemed important to capture that aspect in recording. I was using a cassette recorder to record the live shows and actually put between song live noise on the album.” – explains Chris adding: “For me, getting to play the early material that I had written during a super chaotic period in my life and the city of New York feels amazing. UNSANE never did a majority of this stuff after Charlie (our drummer) passed away, so to have the chance to revisit it now really brings back a lot of the personal shit that was going on at the time. The uncompromising nature of the material is a nightly catharsis that is much needed after the shutdown of the pandemic!” UNSANE quickly became a mainstay in New York noise and heavy music scenes. Originating from the New York scum rock scene, while still pushing their unique “extreme” sound, UNSANE’S relentless, non-stop touring established them as an important part of the Lower East side New York City music scene of the late 80s.

“Uncertainty has always been a part of life”

It’s really fantastic to have you. How is the tour so far? Are you enjoying being back on the road after a few rough years for musicians? Do you find the audience more “in the zone?”

Chris Spencer: Thanks! Tour is going well so far. We just finished the UK leg and are looking forward to playing more shows in Europe. We were actually touring here last October/November, so it’s good to be back. Yes, it’s great to finally get to tour again after the pandemic and it does seem like people are glad to be able to get out and see bands play again.

What was it like for you to spend the time during the pandemic? Did you find it creatively difficult or freeing?

I actually wrote a ton of music. I think around 40 songs. It was a bit difficult in lockdown, but creatively intensive.

What’s like playing with the new lineup featuring Cooper (Made Out of Babies) and Jon Syverson (Daughters)?

It’s awesome playing with Coop and Jon! We’re good friends and all super enthusiastic to be playing the early shit. We started doing these songs during the pandemic as an outlet for the pent up energy from the lockdown, so it’s great to get out and play them for people.

It feels that you are fresh and full of energy, as you would just start the band as a teenager. How is that possible? [laughing]

For me it’s just great to play the early songs and the guys are super energetic playing them so everything just gets kicked up a notch. I wasn’t able to play these songs with our previous drummer as his style of drumming is so different that they didn’t sound the way that they were recorded. We tried them at the time, but decided to just write new stuff.

Do you feel the new lineup offers potential background to new ideas / concepts? Would you like to talk a bit about the direction the band is going these days?

Yes, it’s fun writing new shit with Coop and Jon! We’ve been doing some writing already and are looking to record after we’re done with this round of touring. We’re thinking of doing a series of 7” records so that there’s more art work and singles can be released over time.

How do you usually approach music making? Did the songwriting aspect change during the years of being active? What about influences? We are currently living in a place where uncertainty is part of daily life. Do you feel that had any impact on the music you are making?

My basic approach has not changed much. From the beginning I have worked on ideas at home, then see what the guys think. If they’re into it, we developed the ideas from there. Uncertainty has always been a part of life (especially living in New York), so it definitely has had an influence on the lyrical content.

UNSANE live (2022) | Photo by Cody Cowan

“Playing the early cuts really reminds me of the life I was living at the time”

One of the most interesting facts for UNSANE fans is that before the band got reformed with the new lineup, none of the shows of the early era were played. What runs through your mind playing that material today.

I love playing the early shit. After Charlie Ondras (our first drummer) died, we tried the early tracks with the new drummer Vinny [Signorelli], but they sounded very different so we opted to just start writing new stuff. Playing the early cuts really reminds me of the life I was living at the time. The songs are very direct and more aggressive than the stuff that followed. It’s really great to get to play them now…

I know this might be a difficult question, but would it be possible to recall some of the favourite moments working on the early albums, like the 1991 debut, ‘Total Destruction’ and the stunning ‘Scattered, Smothered & Covered’. What are some of the first thoughts that run through your mind if I would play you those records?

I guess my connotations associated with both of those records would really be the recording process at the time. For ‘Total Destruction’ I immediately thought of hanging out with the guys and Martin Bisi in his studio in Brooklyn. His spot is really cool and we hung out forever having fun with the recording. For ‘Scattered, Smothered & Covered,’ we were trapped in the Amrep studio basement in Minneapolis during a snowstorm. It was really cool to just hunker down there with no distractions, although the guys from the Cows would stop by and things would get really entertaining. It was really cool to wake up in the Amphetamine Reptile office basement studio and hang out with the guys while recording for the label.