Unmanned Ship – Referred by Beth Israel

America’s Most Underrated features local bands from across the country that deserve widespread recognition. Each band is handpicked by the previous column’s highlighted artist to create a collective of underrated bands chosen by underrated bands.

Chicago-bred Unmanned Ship operates somewhat like what you’d expect from the name. They’re talented and tenacious, cheap sure, viagra but the group takes a hands-off approach to the business side of being a band.

While some bands in 2015 focus on how to expand their reach one Facebook or Twitter post at a time, story Unmanned Ship takes a different route. With no concern for “making it big,” their primary goal is to make innovative music they believe in. The result is the perfect combination of classic Sabbath-inspired riffs coupled with sludge-doom metal in the vein of Sleep’s famed Dopesmoker.

Ten years after Unmanned Ship’s formation, the group still maintains a modest discography of just one full-length and two EPs, the most recent of which was released back in 2012. That’s not to say they’re not active. Each of the three members dips their hands in various other Chicago-based projects ranging from thrash metal Oozing Wound to punk rock Big Smoke City.

We got to talk with bassist Kevin Cribbin about the history of the band, what it’s like to run a DIY concert space, and the best place to find tacos in Chicago.

Allston Pudding: How did Unmanned Ship form?

Kevin Cribbin: Unmanned Ship formed in 2005. I was in lots of bands in high school. Most of them were just kind of weird, spazzy bands. Some of them were good, but then I went to college and I was in the midst of being a college dropout.

One of my roommates – he wasn’t even in school, he was just a roommate – had moved from southern Illinois. He was this drummer that sold his drum set to move to the city. We were into similar music so we just started jamming and being in a band. At the time, I was into bands like Ruins, Lightning Bolt and stuff. I was like, “We can just be a two-piece. Let’s just jam out and have a carefree, fun time.” Eventually we got a guitar player who’s an old buddy of ours. It just developed as friends jamming.

AP: So the last band featured on America’s Most Underrated was Beth Israel. Have you ever heard of them?

KC: Yeah! We played a show with them, maybe I’m forgetting. I live in a DIY show space in Chicago. They played here or we played with them. I definitely know those guys, though, yeah.

AP: What do you think of them?

KC: They’re groovy. I mean, to be honest, I’ve seen so many bands come through that I just sort of get jaded and weird. I’m definitely a fan of their sound.

AP: How do you like living in a DIY concert space? I’m sure you find a lot of cool bands that way.

KC: It’s fun. It’s good. It’s a job, too. Well, not a job, but your house gets turned into an illegal nightclub for a day and a half. Your place is turned upside down.

There are a lot of clubs and art in the city, but there’s definitely a good network of underground basement and loft shows going on around. It seems like a more fun and organic and lively place to see a show, even though the PAs are shitty and it’s a leaky, moldy basement. I’d rather see a show in a place like that than a big, giant rock club.

AP: Yeah, I agree. It’s much more intimate. We have quite the community for that around here in Allston also.

KC: Yeah, definitely!

AP: I noticed that Unmanned Ship hasn’t put out anything in a few years. Is anything big coming up in 2015?

KC: We have a new album that’s recorded. We’re sort of sitting on it, waiting for someone to put it out. It’ll probably be sometime this summer. We’re all in other bands and are a little distracted. I play bass in this other band called Oozing Wound. That’s eaten up a lot of my time. I just got back from a Europe tour we did. We put out two albums and a split with Black Pus over the last year and a half.

Unmanned Ship has always been a really casual band. We’re all in other activities. It’s not a side project, but it’s very casual. Over the last year we’ve been pretty busy and active. Also, the drummer is getting married. We’re turning into weird old men. Our guitarist got married a few years ago. There are little hurdles or roadblocks or something. Unmanned Ship has things that we’ll put out in the next year.

AP: What bands are your other members in?

KC: I’m in Oozing Wound. Dan, our guitarist, has been in various projects – Big Smoke City, Total Jams [formerly V|||age].

There’s an active world that’s sort of self-serving for the people in it, not necessarily for being in one particular band that’s going to make it to the top. No one really thinks about it like that. Everyone wants to stay sane and be active in as many projects possible. As long as we’re all on this earth, Unmanned Ship will exist. We’ve been a band for ten years. That’s not going to stop anytime soon.

AP: I’m happy to hear that. I noticed that Unmanned Ship doesn’t have much of a social media presence at all. Was that intentional?

KC: No – the other dudes in the band have their own Twitter handles and Instagram and Vine. The band sort of always existed as maybe on Facebook or maybe on Myspace when that was a thing, but only as a way to get shows. We never treated it as promotion or as a band that’s trying to saturate itself to get out there. We’re just trying to play as many shows as we possibly can around Chicago.

I think someone owns unmannedship.com – a shitty blog that no one updates. I don’t really mind. It’s more of a personal activity. The other bands that we’re in probably fall into that social media, where you need to exist in this other stratosphere or environment and it’s part of their existence to get shows and everything. Unmanned Ship seems to be more important. Why go out and constantly photograph your awesome weekend camping or your rad meal that you made? It seems like it devalues this personal thing we have as a band, where we just get together and try to sound good and jam. It’s more self-serving for us. When people dig it around town, or try to buy a record, or find us, it’s great. It’s awesome.

There’s a band called Coneheads from Indiana. They have no Facebook or anything. They have a phone number on their cassette tape and only give their tape to friends in Indiana. They made a conscious effort to really do that. We’re not too conscious about that. Maybe one day we’ll actually have a multimedia website or something. That would be cooler than an official Twitter or something. I feel like I’m rambling.

AP: No, it’s okay! I think it’s awesome that a band can still exist like that. Too many bands focus so much about digital marketing that they lose sight of what the music is all about. It’s great you are more self-serving in that sense.

KC: Thanks! Yeah, I don’t know. We’ve been a band for so long. There’s a huge collection of other people around Chicago that are all in amazing bands.

It’s low-key. There’s no pressure. In other bands, it’s still fun, but there’s more pressure to write songs and go on tour. It’s more fast-paced. Unmanned Ship is more about hanging out with friends and making interesting tones. It’s a whole different world.

AP: Yeah, so how would you describe the Chicago music scene?

KC: It’s big! I mean, it’s a sprawling city. There’s a metal scene, there’s a hardcore scene. There are a lot of static, dogmatic things that have always been going on. I’m not really a part of any of that. There are a lot of weirdo rockers here, too. No one fits into a specific “scene.” It’s very varied artistically and mentally.

People get along and are kind of close. We’ve been around for ten years and have been playing the same basement shows. I’d feel weird to call it a “scene,” but it’s a group of strange, weirdo, rock and roll, ambient, odd music. Everyone seems to be in two bands that are kind of different from each other. It’s very eclectic music stylistically. I’m into a lot of bands and friends who have bands that have crossed into all of these different spaces.

There are lots of people that are like “We’re punk kids” or “We’re into hardcore.” I don’t know. They don’t seem like they like much.

AP: What do you mean by that?

KC: In Chicago, there is a noisy metal scene. I go to these shows, and maybe a lot of people in the bands are into different types of music, but a lot of people that partake in the scene are very proud of it. They seem like they don’t really have a good time. They’re kind of this dark, brooding tone.

AP: Would you say living in a place with that sort of eclecticism has impacted Unmanned Ship’s music?

KC: Yeah! I mean, also being in the middle of the country where a lot of bands come through that are touring, or just a lot of active stuff happening here that’s very different. Yeah, it is inspiring.

I remember being in the late ‘90s and early ‘00s and going to various local shows to just randomly see a band. You can’t really drink. You can’t go to the bar. You’re at a show in a bowling alley or a basement, but you heard one band that you think is cool and they’re playing with three other bands that you have no idea who they are. Chances are one of them is amazing.

Seeing bands that are active and good at writing songs is inspiring. It’s more inspiring to see friends and bands and peers that are just making songs that are good. There’s not a spotlight here like there is in LA or New York or something. No one really seems to care. It’s inspiring to see bands that are doing it for the love of doing it. That’s awesome.

Things like old Black Sabbath riffs and Lightning Bolt influence our sound probably more than our friends’ band, but it’s nice that there’s an active community that keeps me wanting to make music.

AP: I feel like Boston is a similar place in that there’s not so much of a spotlight on it, but there’s this sense of community and people want to support that here. It’s a similar feeling.

KC: No, no, it’s definitely cool. There are cool spots in like Milwaukee and Minneapolis and every time I’ve been to Boston there is great New England stuff – like Worcester. There’s an awesome network of rad shit going on in the world.

AP: So if someone were to visit Chicago, what would you recommend they do while they’re there?

KC: If they visit? Don’t go to Navy Pier. Do not go there. I don’t know, where do you go? There are lots of plays, there are weird show spaces all along the Northwest neighborhood. You could get really good tacos. 

AP: Where’s the best taco place?

KC: There are a lot of places if you just walk around the streets of Ashland and Division. L’Patron has amazing tacos. There are just a lot of amazing taco places around here.

Don’t go downtown. Maybe go to the lake if it’s not crowded. There are cool parks, and every neighborhood has a great space.

AP: What are some of your favorite Chicago bands right now?

KC: There’s this band Toupee that is really good. I don’t know what they’re like – rockers. Sometimes they’re kind of slow and pretty, so maybe if you’re into like Siouxsie & the Banshees but more energetic and fast paced.

Who else? There’s this band Melkbelly that are really good. Paper Mice is amazing. I don’t know, Running is really awesome and are good friends. Rectal Hygenics, they’re a fun band. They’re loud rock and roll.

AP: I’m excited to check out all of these! So last question for you: What are some of your favorite underrated bands from outside of the Chicago area?

KC: I was thinking about this and I’ve been torn. There’s a band that’s kind of new and formed from another band that broke up. They’re these guys from Milwaukee called Platinum Boys. They’re kind of a new band, but formed from this band called Catacombz. They were really great, but then they started this new band Platinum Boys and they basically are just a rad rock and roll band. It seems a little too poppy for me to like, but they’re just really good at their shit. I listen to their recordings and it’s okay, but live they’re amazing.

Then I was like, wait what ever happened to this band Lechuguillas? They lived in Chicago for two years and ran a show spot then went back to Austin. They’re a fucking rad band, if they’re still kicking around. I haven’t seen them in maybe almost a year. They used to live in a show spot called The Mopery in Chicago that put on tons of shows for two years, then they just got evicted or something. Lechuguillas was definitely one of the heavier bands that I’ve ever seen in my life.

This interview was edited for length and clarity.