Ham Sandwich
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Ham Sandwich

Austin, Texas, United States | MAJOR

Austin, Texas, United States | MAJOR
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Discography

Studio albums
1977 - Suicide
1980 - Suicide
1988 - A Way of Life The 2005 Mute / Blast First CD reissue has a slightly different mix of the album, most notably the song "Surrender", and includes a live bonus disc recorded in 1987.
1992 - Why Be Blue The 2005 Mute / Blast First CD reissue includes a live bonus disc recorded in 1989 and a complete remix by Martin Rev of the original album and different track order.
2002 - American Supreme Initial CD copies included a live bonus disc recorded in 1998.
[edit]Live albums
1981 - Half Alive A collection of live and demo material recorded from 1975-1979. Originally released by ROIR on cassette only. With liner notes by Lester Bangs.
1986 - Ghost Riders A live concert from 1981 - originally released on cassette only.
1997 - Zero Hour Late 70's live recordings.
2004 - Attempted: Live at Max's Kansas City 1980 Soundboard recordings from a NYC rock club performance. With liner notes by Marty Thau.
2008 - Live 1977-1978 A 6CD box set containing 13 complete Suicide live performances from September 1977 to August 1978 plus bonus material.

Photos

Bio

Suicide took their name from the title of a Ghost Rider comic book titled Satan Suicide, a favorite of Alan Vega.[4] Rev's simple keyboard riffs, (initially played on a battered Farfisa organ combined with effects units, before changing to a synthesizer), were accompanied by primitive drum machines, providing a pulsing, minimalistic, electronic backdrop for Vega's murmuring and nervy vocals. They were the first band to use the term punk to describe themselves, which they had adopted from an article by Lester Bangs. Some of their earliest posters use the terms "punk music" and "punk music mass".
Suicide emerged alongside the early glam punk scene in New York, with a reputation for their confrontational live shows. Many of their early shows were at the Mercer Arts Center, alongside bands like the New York Dolls and Eric Emerson and the Magic Tramps. David Johansen once played harmonica with Suicide in an early show there. Vega and Rev both dressed like arty street thugs, and Vega was notorious for brandishing a length of motorcycle drive chain onstage. Vega once stated "We started getting booed as soon as we came onstage. Just from the way we looked they started giving us hell already." [5] This sort of audience confrontation was inspired by Vega's witnessing of an Iggy and the Stooges concert in the early '70s, which he later described as "great art". After the collapse of the Mercer Arts Center in 1973, Suicide played at Max's Kansas City and CBGB, often sharing the bill with emerging punk bands. Their first album was reissued with bonus material, including "23 Minutes Over Brussels", a recording of a Suicide concert that deteriorated into a riot.
Their first album, Suicide (1977), is regarded a classic. One critic writes: "'Che", "Ghost Rider"—these eerie, sturdy, proto-punk anthems rank among the most visionary, melodic experiments the rock realm has yet produced." Of note is the ten-minute "Frankie Teardrop," which tells the story of a poverty-stricken young factory worker, pushed to the edge. Critic Emerson Dameron writes that the song is "one of the most terrifying, riveting, absurd things I’ve ever heard."[6]