Sheer Terror - Live at 15 Minute Club 9/15/1990

Yet another '20 years ago' posting... this one from September of 1990, from one of my favorite bands ever: SHEER TERROR!

This soundboard tape was actually recorded by accident. The guys in Step Aside (the opening band) asked the soundguy to record their set, and he agreed to do so. Well, he 'thought' he pushed record when they started playing, but he didn't. But he did record the other two bands that played, Sheer Terror & Killing Time. Step Aside got their tape from the soundguy at the end of the show - only to later find out their set was not on it.

I got my copy of the tape from the master back then, and it sounds great, aside from a few level changes that the soundguy did while the bands played.

Some back story on this show... I was already a HUGE Sheer Terror fan prior to this show, but had not seen them in-person until this fateful day. I had my hopes set pretty high, and they didn't disappoint one bit! Some hilarious DC-centric jokes between songs, and even some new(at the time) songs sprinkled in, it was a ton of fun! Heck, they even play a snippet of a Fugazi song as a joke too.

Due to the show starting late(ie on 'hardcore time'), the club only allowed Killing Time to play a really short set after Sheer Terror. I think they played 4-5 songs back to back, and really out of tune... but it was Killing Time, so the crowd still went nuts for such a short set from them. Maybe I will post it in the future, but who knows?!?



Sheer Terror - Live at 15 Minute Club 1990

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!