Give us a brief history of The Unseen.
The Unseen has been recording and playing together, in some form or another, for about eight years. The band started out with Kevin (Porter — bass) and myself. Kevin brought in Ed (Pierce — drums) later through a mutual friend in school. All three of us condensed sound I was looking for.
How did recording Worldview at home compare with recording Thinking of Thoughts (The Unseen's first release) at (Humboldt County's) Redwood Creek Recording?
Thinking of Thoughts was recorded and mixed over three days in September, 1993. I like to call it our Please Please Me album. It was basically a recorded live performance, with very few overdubs or treatments. But it failed to capture our excitement as a group. The songs were all things I had written long ago. I felt I had to put them out in order to push them out of my head and get on with the new songs. I still feel that album has a certain urgency or immediacy, and it has some really good songs on it. Recording Worldview was a much better experience overall. I had time to do things, like experiment, without having to worry about the cost. I was also in control of how things sounded, so I couldn't blame anyone but myself.
Thinking of Thoughts came out on CD. Worldview will only be available on cassette (at least initially). How come? I assume the answer is "money." What was it like self-releasing your own CD?
You're right. It's all about money. Both times. Releasing a CD is scary. Questions and doubts always arise. Releasing a cassette is less intimidating. I would love to do a CD again, and I plan to sometime in the future.
You went to a recording school a few yearsback. Whatwasthatlike?
