In 1988, the singer/guitarist Chris Spencer, bass guitarist Pete Shore and drummer Charlie Ondras were students at Sarah Lawrence College when they formed Lawn-Chair-Blisters before changing the name to Unsane. The band signed to Circuit Records and recorded tracks with Wharton Tiers for what was supposed to be their first album Improvised Munitions, but the label did release it. Unsane became part of the scene of loud, noisy, like-minded rock groups in New York City's East Village in the early 1990s. They often played gigs with bands like Pussy Galore, Cop Shoot Cop, Surgery, Helmet and the Reverb Motherfuckers. Members of Unsane also played in other bands such as Boss Hog and the Action Swingers. The band's first album, Unsane, was released in 1991 and was known for its harsh music and gruesome cover art with a photo of a decapitated man on a New York subway track wearing a Members Only jacket. The band obtained this photograph from a friend who was working at the time with the police department, which was investigating the scene of the accident. In 1992, Ondras died of a heroin overdose and was replaced by Vincent Signorelli. In 1994, Shore left the band for unknown reasons and was replaced by Dave Curran. The band toured heavily, and released Total Destruction in 1993 on Matador Records/Atlantic Records. Their third album, Scattered, Smothered & Covered, was issued by Amphetamine Reptile in 1995. The music video for the song "Scrape", made for a mere $200, had significant play on MTV. The video alternates between lo-fi rehearsal footage of Unsane and a series of serious skateboarding wipeouts. The band continued touring heavily. Their next album, Occupational Hazard, was released by Relapse Records in 1998. Later that same year, seemingly fulfilling of the album's title, Spencer was attacked by four people after playing a concert in Vienna, Austria. He was hospitalized with internal bleeding and underwent major surgery. As a result of his injury, and having toured over ten months of the year, the band decided to take a long break in 2000. Unsane regrouped in 2003 and released the CD/DVD compilation ' the same year. This was followed by their fifth album, Blood Run, in 2005. Ipecac released the band's sixth studio album, Visqueen, in 2007. Their song "Committed" was used in the Activision/Neversoft video game Tony Hawk'sPro Skater. Another Activision title, ', uses the song "D Train". Unsane released their seventh album Wreck on March 20, 2012, and toured with Melvins in April and May that year. Unsane released their eighth studio album Sterilize on September 29, 2017. In 2019, Spencer announced the formation of a new band, Human Impact, with ex-Swans members Phil Pulel and Chris Pravdica. Spencer subsequently announced his departure from Unsane in August 2019, first in an interview about Human Impact with the Italian-language music zine Equilibrio Precario, and then in English in a comment on a Facebook post of the same article.
Activities outside the band
During the band's break between 2000 and 2003, Spencer moved to California where he formed a new band with Curran called The Cutthroats 9 and released an album on Man's Ruin Records. Curran formed J.J. Paradise Players Club and Signorelli opened a tattoo shop in Middle Village Queens. Signorelli later formed A Storm of Light with Josh Graham on guitar and vocals, Domenic Seita on bass guitar, and Pete Angevine on additional drums and percussion. A Storm of Light spent most of the spring touring with Neurosis and they released their first album in 2008. In 2008, Spencer formed the band Celan with Ari Benjamin Meyers, Niko Wenner, Roeder, and Xavi and, in 2009, they released the well-reviewed album Halo on the Berlin label Exile on Mainstream Records and toured Europe.
