Ambassadors to PUNK

Almost a decade old, Boston based punk band The Unseen, weigh in on the macarena and why, "16 year old disenfranchised boys," can't get enough of them.

An interview with Tripp Underwood of The Unseen

Written/Photos by Leonard R. Greco

Velle: Last winter I was visiting home for the holidays in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, a place cut off from mostly everything, especially punk rock. I found out that a close friend's band was playing an all ages punk show at the local VFW. It was snowy out and the location was somewhat isolated, so the basement show only catered to a handful of local adolescent rebels. The VFW function hall, which is probably only used for bean dinners and bingo, set the stage for a few bands that would brand a permanent memory into the impressionable minds of it's renegade attendees. The show went great; boys and girls got drunk off of cheap whiskey in the parking lot, some people spray painted on each other and the kids really went crazy for the opportunity to witness a couple of city bands playing at their backwoods venue.

A couple of months later, I was back home visiting and saw a flier that read, Punk Rawk Show. Billed at the local Opera House, the weathered piece of photocopied paper listed the local young punk bands we had witnessed at the VFW and The Unseen. Hmm, I thought... How did these kids get The Unseen to come up here to the middle of nowhere and play for an almost empty Opera House? Well... I was so intrigued that I contacted the band the next week and inquired if they would be willing to do a feature for Velle. I was interested to find out what punk really is about for one of the tried and true bands of the Boston punk scene.

Tripp Underwood: The Unseen have been around for 10 years now. It started in early 90s with Mark and myself, shortly after recruiting Scott who was playing in a band featuring members of Kicked in the Head (local Boston rock outfit). We released our first single independently, then got Paul Russo. Shortly afterward we lost our original singer, who left the group to become a hockey player (he's currently playing in minors in Detroit). The lineup of Mark, Paul, Scott, and Tripp went from their releasing three singles and four full lengths through out the 90's (just in the last year Paul left, we got Pat on drums and most recently, Ruffio joined as rhythm guitar player). Like most punk bands, we played live as often as we could, becoming a household name in dingy clubs and dives through out the East Coast.

As we got bigger, the scene around us in Boston also grew, peaking in the mid to late 90s when the city was receiving national attention as as hot spot for punk music (due to the success of bands like The Dropkick Murphys, The Trouble, The Ducky Boys, The Showcase Showdown, among others). As the scene prospered, so did many of the bands who worked so hard within it by putting on shows, making records, and taking their music to the rest of the country by touring. We were right in the middle of it all, doing our best to get the name out and spread the word. Now it's 2004, nearly a decade since we started in the garage, four albums and countless tours behind us. We're still doing the same thing... writing and touring, it's an endless cycle.

You guys have toured all over the world, sold a lot of records and been around for a long time. What's it like to be a member of the Unseen?

Uh, it's pretty boring. At home we write music and practice the set for upcoming tours. When we're out on the road it's a little bit more exciting, but not much. We have our routine: go to the club hang out, have a few drinks, play, a few more drinks and then head to the next show... it's much more mundane than most people imagine. Being a member of the Unseen is... not all that exciting. It beats having a real job, believe me, but as far as being cool, or acquiring wealth, power, or prestige, we collectively have as much of these things as your average high school janitor. It's not all that glamourous.

Why punk and not hip hop or techno?

We grew up in a white suburb of Boston, so hip hop wasn't all that relevant to our lives, and techno wasn't even around yet by the time most of us got into punk. I'd like to believe that even if it was we all would have seen it for what it was, though. If you want to base a subculture around dance music, go ahead, but there's not enough substance to keep people interested all that long... Remember the macarena or that country line-dancing phase... Techno music and rave culture is about as meaningful as those, only with better drugs. Get enough ecstasy in a person and I'm sure he'll do the electric slide, or the funky chicken, but does that justify it as a real movement? I don't think so.

What constitutes being punk then?

I don't even know anymore, there's the mainstream media calling anyone with the slightest edge punk. Then there are the die hard fans who think anyone who sells over five records is a sellout and isn't "real" punk. I know what it means to me, but don't feel the need to throw that definition in the pot with all the others, it means something different to everybody, I guess. I didn't get the requirement list when I first enlisted so I've been making up my own rules along the way.

Does being punk influence the decisions you make on a day to day basis?

I don't live my life or define my decisions by being "punk." I do things cause I want to, or need to, or feel that I should. I share many of the same views as a lot of people in the movement, so many of these actions could be seen as having to do with punk, but I don't do them cause I'm supposed to... a hairstyle shouldn't dictate behavior.

What do you see for the future of punk?

It will never go away. It may grow then decrease in popularity but it's never gonna die. As long as there are angry teenagers who want to rebel against something, punk will be relevant. And if there was any way of getting pissed off teens to lighten up, someone would have figured it out a long time ago

Where do you feel the biggest scene in the world is today?

I don't know, we haven't left the country in some time... LA is always huge, but who knows, I hear Germany is really big right now. Japan has always had a strong turnout at shows. Hard for me to gauge, I guess.

What was the best show you ever played?

I don't know, there have been so many great ones over the years, and each one is cool for a different reason. A small gig with 100 kids going nuts can be as great as a huge one with 1,000 kids. I have a lot of favorite shows, I guess, for entirely different reasons.

What are your fans like?

Sixteen year old boys, mainly. It sounds funny when you say it, but it's true. Kids who are disenfranchised, you know losers, outcasts, misfits, those kind of kids... like we were when we were in high school.

Have you ever been attacked or scared while playing a show?

There have been tense moments. It used to be skinheads back a few years ago, most recently we did a tour with Hatebreed and a couple of their more meat-headed metal audience were trying to taunt us, but for the most part, no. People who go to gigs to start trouble are just looking for attention. Call 'em out and usually they back down. Especially if you have a microphone and they don't. It's like getting into an insult contest with a fucking mute, they can say all this shit that no one hears and you can come back with something that echoes all over the club. It's one sided and usually over very quick.

Are there any rivalries in the scene?

Sure there are. Petty jealousies over who's doing well, stupid rivalries over ex girlfriends, he said-she said back stabbing, all kinds of dumb shit... it's a lot like high school, just with tighter pants and better hair.

What's next for the band?

We're writing our new record, then tours. The cycle continues.

What are your individual hobbies?

We all do pretty every day stuff; TV, movies, beer, watching baseball, and smashing the imperialist state. Outside of the band thing most of us are kinda boring, I guess.

Do you see yourselves ever settling down with a wife and kids?

I can't speak for everyone, but I'd like to one day. Not on my current salary though, so those kind of thoughts get put on the back burner. The cool thing about being in a band full time is you are allowed this perpetual adolescence. You never really need to grow up as long as you're in the band and touring constantly. You can act like a kid and get away with it because you have very few responsibilities, very few things holding you down and you're in a new city every night. Making the repercussions of your actions that much harder to get you in any kind of trouble. It's no wonder so many bands break up after their first real tour, musicians put in that kind of a life are bound to screw up and sometimes they end up taking the whole band with them.

To learn more about The Unseen and find a schedule of current shows visit: www.unseenpunks.com