The Unseen formed in Boston 1993 and released the demo EP Too Young To Know...Too Reckless To Care in 1994. Two other 7" EPs followed, before the release of their debut full-length, Lower Class Crucifixion on A-F Records. Another two albums followed on the same label before they signed to BYO Records, and then, Hellcat Records. Each of their albums have sold moderately better than previous releases.
The quintet also released a best-of compilation for the European market in June 2000 titled Totally Unseen: The Best Of The Unseen, which contained two previously unreleased tracks.
For the release of their 2001 album The Anger And the Truth, "Chainsaw" re-accompanied the band in the studio to record the song No Evacuation, a song he originally wrote.
After being a member of the band for nearly ten years and writing most of the material on Lower Class Crucifixion, So This is Freedom?, and The Anger and the Truth, Paul Russo left the band after only contributing vocals to one track on their fourth album Explode. Citing differences in direction, he is now the leader of The Strings, an indie rock/folk band. He remains friends with his former bandmates.
Mark Unseen, the lead singer, formed and currently runs ADD Records. He also briefly joined the Maine street punk group A Global Threat as a second singer, and recorded the full-length What the Fuck Will Change? and Until We Die before deciding to concentrate on his duties with The Unseen.
There has been some controversy concerning the band, including allegations that in recent years they have "sold out". Most widely cited is the fact that The Unseen have produced music videos to air on commercial music video channels such as MTV2, an avenue looked-down upon in the underground streetpunk scene. The band reacted to this perception with the song "So Sick of You."
They have toured Europe, North America, Australia, Japan, and Mexico with many punk heavyweights from The Bouncing Souls and Rancid to decidedly more hardcore outfits like Hatebreed and Sick Of It All. Since the departure of Paul, the band has used many replacements on tour such as members from The Virus, Strike Anywhere, and F-Minus, however, recently, on their MySpace page The Unseen have included a fifth band member, Jonny, an ex-guitarist of A Global Threat who was in the band at the same time as Mark.
2006 also saw the release of Tripp's book So This Is Readin'?, which details the life and hardships of being in an underground band with dry comedy. It started as a lengthy band history on the band's website, but after a few amusing "chapters" he was contacted by a publishing company to release it in book form.
In May 2006, The Unseen announced on their official website that they would begin writing their sixth studio full-length album during the summer of that year. The album, titled Internal Salvation, came out on July 10, 2007. The first song released from that album is a track titled "Right Before Your Eyes". In support of the new album, the band has joined the thirteenth Warped Tour.
Ignorance
The Unseen Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Forget that punk rock rule, gotta be like me to be cool
Go ahead, leave me alone, aint you got a life of your own?
The way you look just aint right
Don't care if it is your life, trying to tell you how to be
Trying to make you just like me
The Unseen's song Ignorance is a scathing critique of the conformity and homogeneity that often plague the punk rock scene. The opening line of the song sets the tone for what is to follow, as the band declares "Fuck that punk rock clone, you aint punk if you got a home." This line speaks to the notion that true punks are those who reject the mainstream and embrace a more countercultural lifestyle. The idea being that if you have a comfortable home and are living a relatively stable life, you cannot be a true punk.
The chorus of the song further emphasizes the idea of rejecting conformity, with the band declaring "Forget that punk rock rule, gotta be like me to be cool." Here, the band is criticizing the idea that in order to be accepted as a punk, you have to conform to a certain set of standards or ideals. The song encourages listeners to embrace their own individuality and reject the pressure to conform to a specific image or way of living.
Overall, The Unseen's Ignorance is a powerful reminder that punk rock is not about fitting in or conforming to a set of rules, but rather about embracing individuality, rejecting conformity, and sticking it to the mainstream.
Line by Line Meaning
Fuck that punk rock clone, you aint punk if you got a home
Having a home and being comfortable doesn't fit the punk rock image that society has created.
Forget that punk rock rule, gotta be like me to be cool
Punk rock should be about individualism, disregarding societal norms, but some people still want others to conform to their standards of cool.
Go ahead, leave me alone, aint you got a life of your own?
Instead of trying to force one's ideas onto others, they should just leave them alone and focus on their own life.
The way you look just aint right
The artist doesn't like the way someone looks but it's not their business to dictate how they should dress or present themselves.
Don't care if it is your life, trying to tell you how to be
It doesn't matter if it's someone's life, other people shouldn't push their opinions and beliefs onto them.
Trying to make you just like me
People often try to mold others into their own image, when they should be embracing individual differences and accepting others for who they are.
Contributed by Miles P. Suggest a correction in the comments below.