Mark Robinson was the leader of the seminal D.C. experimental punk band Unrest. 1987’s Tink of S.E. (their third release but proper debut) was a prog-punk masterpiece. Each song was a triumph of creativity. Malcolm X Park and Kustom Karnal Blaxploitation were transitional albums of sorts; The punk influences faded away as Robinson’s penchant for writing unorthodox pop songs came to the fore (Christina). By the time of 1992’s Imperial f.f.r.r., Unrest had attained a sublime degree of formal perfection: This is a deceptively simple work of great significance. Unrest eventually imploded; Robinson formed Air Miami and Grenadine (Fillings by the latter is a must listen). Our conversation follows:
1 | Tink of S.E. is chaotic, visceral, and wildly experimental. I think it stands as your masterpiece (even if Imperial f.f.r.r. is ultimately a more enjoyable listen). Thoughts?
Interesting take. I think parts of Imperial f.f.r.r. might be a more difficult listen, but then other parts are easier than most of the first album. This one was difficult to record. We went back to the same place who had done a great job with the first single and the first side of the Lisa Carol Freemont tape session. But this time we were a four piece and were using more distortion effects and things just didn’t sound as good. Zoodio Studio (it overlooked the National Zoo) was an oddity at the time. An all-digital studio in 1985 and ’86 when we recorded there. It took me a year of re-mixing and re-recording at different studios to make it to where I was happy with it.
Happy you like it. I’ve never thought of it as a masterpiece, but that’s good to hear. There is certainly something very Unrest about it. A mish-mash of styles and an anything-goes attitude.
Since this record had an almost infinite number of cover designs and titles, we often refer to this as the first album, or Unrest, but of course Tink of S.E. was certainly the most used title. It’s been out of print for decades, mostly because I think the best way to reissue it would be to do the same thing we did the first time. Buy blank white jackets and decorate them. It’s a giant mountain to climb and I just have to get psychologically prepared first. It was nearly impossible the first time when I was 19.
2 | Imperial f.f.r.r. is, in a sense, the polar opposite — Tink of S.E. was overflowing with ideas whereas Imperial was seemingly almost devoid of them. Nonetheless, Imperial is an impeccable record. How is it possible for an album which essentially just consists of a handful of pop songs and a few repetitive experiments to attain such perfection?
Another interesting take. I think of Imperial as the record where we went back to basics and the original Unrest idea, which was in part to experiment and play as many different styles of music that we could. Perhaps a reaction to (having) maybe too much heavy stuff on the Kustom Karnal Blackxploitation album (though that record could have been different). We recorded about 20 songs for each album and the whole personality and atmosphere of each album was in the song selection. Bavarian Mods and Winona Ryder could have been on Imperial, and a lot of the mellow stuff from the Mark E. Sammy Supreme 7” could have ended up on Kustom Karnal.
3 | When will people “stop” listening to Unrest? Do you expect anyone to be familiar with any of your bands, say, 100 years from now?
That seems pretty difficult to predict. If the world’s current rate of music creation and digital computer distribution continues, I suppose someone will be listening in decades or centuries to come, though they may have an unfathomable amount of choices. Perhaps music will be out of fashion by then and people will be listening to silence. The Billboard Top 40 might be made up of different lengths of silence. Or perhaps Martian silence, which may somehow sound different to Earth silence.
4 | Goya has its moments (Fillings comes to mind) but ultimately comes off as mellow and kitschy (unlike Imperial f.f.r.r., which is at times mellow but also sublimely beautiful). I think it could have used some of the punk verve found on Tink of S.E. Thoughts?
Fillings is a great song. The best Grenadine song out there? Kitsch was supposed to be an element of the band, so if that’s what it sounds like, we succeeded. Ain’t nothing wrong with mellow. Unrest is a whole ’nother animal by a different group of people. I suppose we could have injected some of the “punk verve” found on Unrest’s first album, but then it probably wouldn’t have been — or not sounded like — Grenadine. Perhaps if it was an Unrest album I might agree with you and we would have injected it will all sorts of Unrest-y things.
5 | You designed the cover of — among other things — a new edition of 1984. Thoughts on George Orwell?
He’s always been one of my favorites. My 11th grade social studies teacher gave me one of her early 1940s edition of 1984. I’ve been somewhat obsessed with that since then. Seems like there’s a ripe opportunity for a better film adaptation of 1984 than what we’ve seen so far.
6 | How often do you get recognized on the street? Has anyone ever seemed “starstruck” around you?
More often, I’m told after the fact: ‘I saw you in the subway station or was that you getting coffee at… ?’ I don’t drink coffee though.
7 | Best and worst Unrest songs?
I often cringe at some of the covers we did. Particularly the Sub Pop EP of Factory Records bands covers. We tried to sound way too much like the original versions and somehow succeeded. We were much better when we were doing things like God Gave Rock ’N’ Roll To You III, where we really made it our own with different lyrics and all sorts of original instrumentation. I also feel like we did too many covers in general. Even though there are no covers on the last three album,s we still recorded about two for each one. They just didn’t make the album cut.
Worst: Let’s go with The Foxey Playground. I don’t dislike the music but my Beastie Boys-esque delivery is difficult to listen to. A situation where we could have left this one off the record and substituted it with something like Greg Hershey Where Are You? from the same session.
Best: Maybe The Hill from the first 7” single.
8 | If a reunited Unrest recorded another album, what do you think said album would sound like?
We did reunite and recorded an album under the name Maybe It’s Reno in 2005-2006. It was Bridget (Cross)’s project, but both Phil (Krauth) and I contribute heavily. Maybe a little bit of that and some of the wine glasses from the song Imperial. We’ll keep it experimental.
9 | King Crimson were better than The Beatles. It’s not even close. Surely you agree?
This seems like the ultimate apples and oranges comparison. Yes, they both sing, play guitar, bass, and drums, have eyes, arms and legs, but that’s where the similarities end. I enjoy both apples and oranges.
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Brett Abrahamsen is a lifelong connoisseur of the experimental and obscure. He is also a science fiction writer (and an amateur philosopher of sorts). He resides in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.
