Death by Steamship Death by Steamship cassette
At first glance, I was admittedly a little confused by a cassette where more than half of the songs were recorded live from various shows, with a few demo songs and a single studio track. After a little research, I understand it quite a bit more. First, a bit of backstory for those not in the know. DEATH BY STEAMSHIP was an artsy post-hardcore band from Seattle, WA from 2008–2014, who released a 7” and an LP (both on Whoa! Boat Records). The band broke up with quite a few new songs written but not properly recorded. This cassette compiles what I presume are the only existing recordings of the band’s unreleased songs. It also includes a few practice demo recordings, the one studio song the band recorded for a compilation, as well as a pretty fun demo version of “Shot Down” by the SONICS. Think of this release as a companion cassette for the DEATH BY STEAMSHIP discography. Some of the live tracks are a bit difficult to digest as the recording quality is rather rough, but such is the nature of live recordings. As something of a completist when it comes to the music made by bands I care about, I can absolutely understand the appeal of such a cassette. If DEATH BY STEAMSHIP is a band that you love, you’d better act fast as only 25 copies of this cassette were made.