Insect Immortality by Angel Hair

Angel Hair began in late 1992 in Boulder, Colorado, and as PunkNews described them: “Angel Hair was a five-piece from Colorado whose music would grow to be associated with the chaotic, inventive San Diego scene of the early nineties. Bands such as Heroin, Antioch Arrow, Swing Kids, Clikitat Ikatowi and Mohinder are good reference points, but Angel Hair had a unique intensity that not even their West Coast peers could match.” After many changes the lineup solidified in early 1994, issuing a split 7″ EP with Bare Minimum on Titanic Records, and touring the west coast. The lineup included guitarists Andy Arahood (Red Sparowes) and Josh Hughes (The VSS, Pleasure Forever, Rabbits, SSOLD), bassist Todd Corbett (Stiffwhiff), drummer Paul Iannacito (Generalissimo), and vocalist Sonny Kay (The VSS, Year Future, Mind Rider). During that tour, they recorded the 4-song Gravity EP with Matt Anderson in Chula Vista, which was released in time for a six week summer tour around the US in 1994. In that time they also released a split EP with The Fisticuffs Bluff on Unleaded Records. In the fall of ’94, they traveled to San Diego again to record the “Insect Mortality” 12″ which was released on Gravity in May 1995, four months after Angel Hair had broken up. Drummer Paul Iannacito moved away abruptly following a west coast tour over Christmas, and the band, feeling he was irreplaceable, called it quits after a little more than two years. During this time, they toured with peers such as Monsula, Clikatat Ikatowi, Spitboy, Garden Variety, J Church, Bare Minimum, Antioch Arrow, the Yah Mos, the Fucking Angels and the Vicious Ginks.

The band explains of the release: “‘Insect Immortality’ combines nearly all our previous releases, certainly all the ones worth hearing. Most were recorded by Gravity’s Matt Anderson in San Diego in a variety of DIY spaces and setups, none of which would qualify as a studio per se. They were recorded quickly, mixed immediately, and often available on tour less than 2 months later. It was an incredible time in our lives and those recordings really do capture the energy and momentum of what we were creating. But three decades later, after our ears and minds have evolved along with technology, it became evident at some point that all the music we released could be made to sound much better. Thanks to Matt’s foresight and diligence, obtaining the original masters wasn’t difficult. We handed them over to Pete Lyman, a giant in the mastering world, and our old chum from Boulder, present at the first and last Angel Hair shows and many in between. Pete remixed the tracks from our 12″ and most of the EP’s from the ground up, and the difference is huge. These songs have never sounded so intense and everyone in the band is very well represented.”