Unsane Still Don't Care

BY Greg PrattPublished Mar 25, 2012

Through seven full-length albums released over the last 23 years, New York noise rockers Unsane have established themselves at the forefront of the small but lively genre, one of a small handful of must-hear noise rock bands. With their new album, Wreck, Unsane proves why by laying down their incredibly solid metallic hardcore pummel… with a few twists.

For example, Wreck's second track, "Decay," sounds unlike anything Unsane has done before. It's melodic and cathartic in a whole new way for them, a fact not lost on bassist Dave Curran.

"When we were working on that song, we were thinking, 'Oh man, we've never written anything like this,'" he says. "We were curious about how it would be received, but we really liked the song and essentially didn't give a shit in the end."

That attitude is exactly what's got the hard-nosed band this far in their career, on the cusp of celebrating a 25-year anniversary. "It's always a trip looking back, like, 'Look at me, I've been doing this for 25 years now,'" says Curran with a self-deprecating chuckle.

There's no reason for self-deprecation. Unsane, alongside Helmet, helped established the Amphetamine Reptile Records sound; they worked with labels such as Relapse, Matador and Ipecac; they even achieved some MTV notoriety for their skateboard-accident-filled video "Scrape" off of 1995's Scattered, Smothered & Covered.

Still, Curran remains modest about the band's legacy, saying they're "just three guys trying to play music" instead of admitting that his band has played a key part in the history of a subgenre of extreme music. "I don't want to sound callous about it. We see the write-ups and I suppose it's flattering that we've had influence on anybody," he says, adding with a laugh, "as misguided as that may be."

Latest Coverage