Friday, November 26, 2010

SubZero - Live on WNYU 1990


It seems weird this WNYU set was recorded 20 years ago, since it seems like just yesterday my good friend Dave Fertal at Inner Journey Records made me this tape of the show. He was in the process of releasing their debut 7" on his record label, and they sent him this tape. That 7", the 1st demo, and this WNYU set have always been my favorite material by them, since it is much more raw than the more polished recordings they released later. The early sound was more like Breakdown meets Outburst, two bands I loved already... and hearing a band blend them together so well was a treat. It kinda made sense, with an ex-member of Breakdown in the SubZero line up. They also had the drummer for Up Front, though it was never evident in their sound at all.

The live set has many songs that ended up getting real studio versions later, but I still prefer the WNYU versions any day.

The setlist: Intro/Boxed In/Once And For All/Waiting/One Too Many Times/Lionhearted/Peering Through The Bars/Bottom Of The Sea/Ice Age

I saw them play DC on their 1st visit at a small venue called 15 Minute Club. They brought some friends down with them that spent the entire time floorpunching while most of the DC kids were not too into it. I still bought the demo that day, since i liked their metallic take on the NYHC style. Later demo's delved into weirder territory with Beatles samples & other stuff I was not into at all. But that 1st demo was great, and will probably appear here eventually - when I find my tape of it.


As most people know, they released a few records as the years went on, and continued to play out quite often up until finally breaking up in 2009... and if I remember correctly, their final show was with the demo-era line-up too. A nice way to bring things full circle, in my opinion.

Without further ado... live from the studio's at WNYU...

it's SubZero!

4 comments:

  1. Very cool to finally have this digital. As I mentioned to you before, I was beginning to think I was the only person who still had this. Taped it myself that night.

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  2. where's the 4 walls falling set from the show? that's something i'd be interested in.

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  3. Thanks Jon, I am glad to have this WNYU set finally online too.

    Tim, I wish I had the 4 Walls set from that show... it was a fun one! The only 15 Minute Club sets I ever have seen are the Sheer Terror/Killing Time soundboard tracks... but none of the other shows that happened there have surfaced at all. I know The Mentors played there, and a bunch of others too. Someday maybe...

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  4. thank you so much man.awesome set.listening to it all day.and your blog is fucking rad.

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