The VSS was an American rock band from

Boulder, Colorado Boulder is a home rule city that is the county seat and most populous municipality of Boulder County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 108,250 at the 2020 United States census, making it the 12th most populous city in Color ...

, United States.

History

The VSS formed in 1995 after the breakup of the hardcore group Angel Hair. Vocalist

Sonny Kay Sonny Kay is a visual artist and musician. Biography Kay was born in London, England on March 13, 1972, and raised in various locations including the UK, Barcelona (Spain), and Johannesburg (South Africa). His family relocated first to Los Angel ...

and guitarist Josh Hughes had both played in Angel Hair; the rest of the lineup consisted of bassist Andrew Douglas Rothbard and Dave Clifford.Unsung Heroes: The VSS
''The Fix'', June 5, 2008. They quickly released several 7" records and toured the United States, achieving nationwide notice among the underground punk scene with acclaim from publications such as ''

Maximum Rocknroll ''Maximumrocknroll'', often written as ''Maximum Rocknroll'' and usually abbreviated as ''MRR'', is a not-for-profit monthly zine of punk subculture. Based in San Francisco, ''MRR'' focuses on punk rock and hardcore music, and primarily featur ...

'' and '' Flipside''. Midway through their career, the band relocated to

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

. Their only album, ''Nervous Circuits'', was released on Honey Bear Records in 1997, and the group broke up shortly thereafter. Sonny Kay went on to sing with Year Future and founded the label

Gold Standard Laboratories Gold Standard Laboratories or GSL was an independent record label which was founded in 1993 in Boulder, Colorado by Sonny Kay. In 2000, it was relocated to San Diego, California, United States, and two years later, to Los Angeles. It was headqu ...

, which re-released their Gravity 7" records as a CD entitled ''21:51'' in 2000. Dave Clifford, Josh Hughes, and Andrew Douglas Rothbard formed a new group called Slaves, which changed its name to Pleasure Forever, and released two full-length LP's on

Sub Pop Sub Pop is a record label founded in 1986 by Bruce Pavitt and Jonathan Poneman. Sub Pop achieved fame in the early 1990s for signing Seattle bands such as Nirvana, Soundgarden, and Mudhoney, central players in the grunge movement. They are often ...

records. Dave Clifford later played with

Red Sparowes Red Sparowes is an American, Los Angeles-based post-rock band, comprising current and former members of Isis, Marriages, The Nocturnes, Halifax Pier, Angel Hair and Pleasure Forever. Their sound is characteristic of soundscape-influenced expe ...

. Josh Hughes went on to form the band Rabbits, and Andrew Douglas Rothbard has released several solo albums. Their use of

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

s and

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

in a hardcore punk setting was uncommon for its time, but has been recognized as an influence on bands such as

The Faint The Faint is an American indie rock band. Formed in Omaha, Nebraska, the band consists of Todd Fink, Graham Ulicny, Dapose and Clark Baechle. The Faint was originally known as Norman Bailer and included Conor Oberst (of Bright Eyes, with whom T ...

and

Death From Above 1979 Death from Above 1979 (also known as Death from Above) is a Canadian rock duo consisting of bassist Jesse F. Keeler and drummer and vocalist Sebastien Grainger from Toronto, Ontario, formed in 2001. The band released their debut album, '' You're ...

. In 2008,

Hydra Head Records Hydra Head Records was an independent record label that specializes in extreme metal music, founded in New Mexico by Aaron Turner (the frontman of Isis) in 1993. It had another imprint, Hydra Head Noise Industries, which specialized in experiment ...

re-released ''Nervous Circuits'' on CD with a bonus DVD, as well as an additional bonus CD with the first 1,000 copies.Review of ''Nervous Circuits''
Scene Point Blank, June 18, 2008. In 2013,

Sargent House Sargent House is an American management company and record label based in Los Angeles. It was founded in June 2006 by Cathy Pellow, who is a music video commissioner for Atlantic Records and also owns a music video production company called Ref ...

issued a remastered version of "Nervous Circuits" as a limited-edition double vinyl LP. The second LP consists of tracks from "21:51" and other rarities.

Members

*Sonny Kay - vocals *Josh Hughes - guitar *Andrew Douglas Rothbard - bass and synthesizer *Dave Clifford - drums

Discography

*''The VSS'' 7" ( Strict Records No. 4, 1995) *''The VSS/T-Tauri'' Split 7" ( Titanic Records No. 8, 1995) *''The VSS'' 7" (

Gravity Records Gravity is an underground independent record label from San Diego.Trevor Kelley, "California Screaming". ''Alternative Press'' 17 (2003), pp. 84-86. It was formed in 1991 by Matt Anderson, a member of the influential underground band Heroin. It ...

No. 25, 1996) *''21:51'' CD (

, No. 7 1996) *''The VSS/Rye Coalition'' Split double 7" ( Super 8 records No. 13, 1997) *''Nervous Circuits'' LP and CD ( Honey Bear Records, No. 16,1997) *''21:51'' CD (

, No. 7 re-released with different artwork, 2000) *''Nervous Circuits'' CD/DVD reissue (

, No. 158, 2008) *''Nervous Circuits'' 2LP reissue (

, No. 081, 2013)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:VSS, The Rock music groups from Colorado American experimental rock groups American post-hardcore musical groups